Flux Bloody

Flux Bloody (δυσεντερία, Ac 28:8), the same as our dysentery, which in the East is, though sometimes sporadic, generally epidemic (as in the case of the Asiatic cholera), and then assumes its worst form. It is always attended with fever (q.v.), frequently in an intermittent form; the presence of which Luke, with professional accuracy, intimates by the plural (πυρετοί) in the above case of Publius. A sharp gnawing and burning sensation seizes the bowels, which give off in purging much slimy matter and purulent discharge. When blood flows it is said to be less dangerous than without it (Schmidt, Bibl. Medic. c. 14, pages 503-507). King Jehoram's disease is thought by Dr. Mead to have been a chronic dysentery, and thee "bowels falling out" the prolapsus ani, known sometimes to ensue (2Ch 21:15,19). SEE DISEASE.