necrotizing enterocolitis
Findings
No curated finding names necrotizing enterocolitis yet. Everything below is reference data from Mondo, HPO and GenCC, not evidence about what affects it.
Definition
Necrotizing enterocolitis (NEC) is a devastating disease that affects mostly the intestine of premature infants. The wall of the intestine is invaded by bacteria, which cause local infection and inflammation that can ultimately destroy the wall of the bowel (intestine). Such bowel wall destruction can lead to perforation of the intestine and spillage of stool into the infant's abdomen, which can result in an overwhelming infection and death.
Definition from the Mondo Disease Ontology (MONDO:0005313), read 2026-09-29. CC BY 4.0.
Features
34 features
What the disease is reported to present with, and how often among people who have it — never how often a feature means the disease. HPO, annotations 2026-09-02.
- Premature birthHPOHP:0001622
- Very frequent (80% to 99% of cases)
- Abdominal distentionHPOHP:0003270
- Frequent (30% to 79% of cases)
- Bloody diarrheaHPOHP:0025085
- Frequent (30% to 79% of cases)
- CyanosisHPOHP:0000961
- Frequent (30% to 79% of cases)
- Decreased total neutrophil countHPOHP:0001875
- Frequent (30% to 79% of cases)
- DiarrheaHPOHP:0002014
- Frequent (30% to 79% of cases)
- FatigueHPO
Show the remaining 22
- Small for gestational ageHPOHP:0001518
- Frequent (30% to 79% of cases)
- Abdominal rigidityHPOHP:0032545
- Occasional (5% to 29% of cases)
- Abnormal glucose homeostasisHPOHP:0011014
- Occasional (5% to 29% of cases)
- Abnormal heart morphologyHPOHP:0001627
- Occasional (5% to 29% of cases)
- AcidosisHPOHP:0001941
- Occasional (5% to 29% of cases)
- ApneaHPOHP:0002104
- Occasional (5% to 29% of cases)
Where it sits
- A kind of
- Narrower terms (1)
Other names
1 name
Resolves to: necrotizing enterocolitis
- Also called
- NEC