Pus or mucus in stool?

[Iworryalot]

On Feb 8, I got a bad case of food poisoning from gool 'ole Universal Studios chicken.  I assume it was salmonella.  Since then, my stomach hasn't been too well, and when I use the bathroom, there seems to be pus or mucus in my stool.  It doens't happen much in the morning though.  It's sort of a clear yellow in color, and has stringy, mucus-like proporties (although there isn't much, just a bit hanging off the peices of stool).
    I've been perscribed antibiotics (cipro 500mg), but that doesn't seem to be helping that much.  I recently went in for blood and stool samples which should be back soon.  My aunt is a registered dietician, and she says it could be that my body is just not processing the fat well yet.  
    I should mention that about 3 years ago I got food poisoning from sushi, and everything was the same as it is now (minus the pus in the stool).  I had blood and stool samples and had an edoscopy (sp?) and everything came back negative.  I'm 22 and have had a fairly healthy diet, except for the past year or so.  My family is very healthy, no one has had cancer or any sort of intestinal troubles.
    Also, I just started a new job at a bank, which is kind of stressfull.  Also, I tend to get full rather quickly since this happened, and haven't been able to eat much, although I still appear to be hungry (everything smells so good but I just can't eat).  I've also been fatigued, but am thinking it's just from the job.
    I've had regular bowel movements before all this happened, with the exception that they were a bit on the soft side, especially in the mornings.  I'm worried about the pus/mucus/fat in my stool, since everything's happened before (except the pus or whatever) and I eventually got my appitite back after the first time.  I also tend to become very anxious about this sometimes.  What could be the cause?  Sorry I wrote so much but I'm quite worried about this since it's completely new to me.  Thanks.  BTW, my stool is usually a normal brown color, with the very rare exception of some discoloration, whitch I attribute to food coloring, since it becomes red only when I eat red licorace or Flaming Hot Cheetos.

[Kevin Pho, MD]

The symptoms may be consistenet with Salmonella or any other bacterial gastroenteritis.  Cipro is the correct antibiotic to treat this.  I would wait until the stool tests come back to confirm the diagnosis.

If the antibiotics are not helpful and the pus and mucous continue, I would consider further evaluation for inflammatory bowel disease and malabsorption.  Possible tests to consider would be an endoscopy (likely a flexible sigmoidoscopy), stool tests looking for fat malabsorption, or blood tests looking for celiac disease.

Followup with your personal physician is essential.

This answer is not intended as and does not substitute for medical advice - the information presented is for patient education only. Please see your personal physician for further evaluation of your individual case.

Thanks,
Kevin, M.D.

[Iworryalot]

Also, I should let you know when I came down w/ the food poisoning, I had very bad rotten egg smelling burps, and lots of them.  Could be just from the food, but thought I should mention it.

[tracy695]

A related discussion, throat was started.