Background info - An infant presents with constant diarrhea, failure to thrive (

Question

Background info - An infant presents with constant diarrhea, failure to thrive (not growing and not gaining weight appropriately), and generalized edema. Blood test shows that the infant has hypoproteinemia (low protein levels in the blood). A sample of duodenal juice and the duodenal mucosa indicates that the infant has low enterokinase activity and low trypsin activity.If enterokinase is added to the duodenal juice sample, trypsin activity returns to the normal range. Based on the tests, the infant is diagnosed with a very rare disorder: enterokinase deficiency.

QUESTION - Explain the process by which diarrhea develops in this infant.  (150 words or less. Please only post complete answers and do not just copy paste something from google)

Explanation / Answer

Enterokinase is an intestinal enzyme that is essential for intestinal digestion and absorption of proteins. Enterokinase deficiency causes malabsorption of proteins, this result in growth impairment in children. Unabsorbed food obviously causes diarrhoea and ths, the child is suffring from diarrhoea. Trypsin is a pancreatic protease that also helps protein metabolism.

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