• Question: I had my appendix removed and i was wondering if you can tell me how it got infected/inflammed?

    Asked by fredtheflamelord to Amy, Drew, Julia, Kimberley, Sara on 15 Jun 2011. This question was also asked by botter7r2.
    • Photo: Kimberley Bryon

      Kimberley Bryon answered on 14 Jun 2011:

      Hello, Fredtheflamelord

      I have also had my appendix removed. I believe that no-one really knows exactly what causes appendicitis and it can be due to bacteria, viruses or even parasites causing inflammation. Some diseases such as Crohn’s disease can make it more likely though. It isn’t contagious or hereditary.

      The good news though is that we don’t need our appendix, in fact in adults it doesn’t appear to anything, although some scientists think it might be involved in the immune response!

    • Photo: Amy MacQueen

      Amy MacQueen answered on 14 Jun 2011:

      Hi dude! my dad was very sick with appendicitis recently and almost died because it had burst everywhere before they got it out – scary! The appendix is like a cul-de-sac near the junction of the small and large intestine – basically stuff…partly digested food and things… can get stuck in there and cause us problems by essentially sort of rotting a bit and causing swelling and redness. Eventually the appendix will burst.

      The appendix is commonly thought of as a vestigial organ – a throw-back to some earlier evolutionary part of our history and that we no longer need it – but there are suggestions that it may also be important immunologically as a site for gut bacteria that we need for digestion. 🙂

    • Photo: Drew Rae

      Drew Rae answered on 14 Jun 2011:

      Hi Fred and Botter – As Kimberley and Amy said, there are a few different possible causes. Because removing the appendix doesn’t seem to cause harm, it’s safer to remove then to work out exactly what is causing problems and try to fix them.

    • Photo: Julia Griffen

      Julia Griffen answered on 15 Jun 2011:

      Either a bacterial or viral infection… We dont need our appendix… they are lieft over from when the human species used to eat alot of grasses and plants and needed more room to digest the tough cellulous…. thats why cows have four stomachs as grass is very difficult to digest due to all the cellulous in the plant cell walls.

    • Photo: Sara Imari Walker

      Sara Imari Walker answered on 15 Jun 2011:

      Hi fred and botter! Wow that sounds terrible!! =/ I hope you are feeling much better! My impression is that you can get appendicitis because we don’t use the appendix! Or something like that 😉

      I just looked it up and acute appendicitis seems to be the result of an obstruction of the appendix. The obstruction causes the appendix to fill with mucus resulting in swelling and in increased pressure that can be quite painful. The real danger is potential bursting of the appendix. Sounds like Amy’s dad had a close call with this!! So glad to hear he is alright. The obstruction can be caused by things like trauma (like getting hit in the gut), intestinal worms, lymphadenitis, and calcified deposits known as appendicoliths (maybe like kidney stones of the appendix?), or even possibly bacterial infection.

      I keep learning new stuff from your great questions!!

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