Pathogenic mechanisms and new perspectives in the treatment and prevention of enteric infections.

Enteric infections cause more than a billion episodes of diarrhoeal disease in humans each year killing many millions of people, especially young children, in developing countries. Recent progress, reviewed in this article, has enabled that a specific pathogen now can be isolated in the majority of patients with acute diarrhoea, and has also elucidated fundamental pathogenic mechanisms and their pathophysiological effects for several of these agents. Based on this understanding it now seems possible to devise new techniques for the treatment and prevention of diarrhoeal disease to complement those based on fluid replacement therapy and sanitation; prospects for the development of new or improved vaccines, receptor-prophylactic binding agents, and antisecretory drugs are discussed.