Encopresis

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Encopresis is voluntary or involuntary passage of feces outside of toilet-trained contexts (fecal soiling) in children who are four years or older and after an organic cause has been excluded.^[1] Children with encopresis often leak stool into their undergarments.

This term is usually applied to children, and where the symptom is present in adults, it is more commonly known as fecal incontinence (including fecal soiling, fecal leakage or fecal seepage).^[2] The term is from the Ancient Greek: ἐγκόπρησις (enkóprēsis).