This paper reviews the application of epidemiological understanding of diarrhoeal disease to interventions in water and sanitation. Over the past 20 years, great efforts have been made to elucidate the relationships between water supply, sanitation and diarrhoeal disease. At the outset, it was hoped that improved understanding of these relations could provide a rational framework for the planni...

The promotion of proper infant feeding practices and the improvement of environmental sanitation have been two important strategies in the effort to reduce diarrhoeal morbidity among infants. Breast-feeding protects infants by decreasing their exposure to water- and foodborne pathogens and by improving their resistance to infection; good sanitation isolates faecal material from the human enviro...

OBJECTIVE To determine the prevalence of Cryptosporidium parvum in diarrhoeal patients. DESIGN This was a laboratory-based cross sectional study on cryptosporidiosis in diarrhoeal patients. SETTING Department of Medical Laboratory Sciences, College of Health Sciences in Harare, Zimbabwe. SUBJECTS People of all ages with diarrhoea presenting at primary level health centres in Harare. MAI...

Infection with sorbitol-fermenting Shiga toxin-producing Escherichia coli O157:H- (sf STEC O157:H-) is rare, but emerging in Europe. The pathogen is typically isolated from paediatric patients with life-threatening haemolytic uraemic syndrome (HUS). It is unclear whether this observation primarily reflects the pathogen's virulence or its complex laboratory diagnosis, not routinely conducted in ...

Infections and the malnutrition associated with them are responsible for a significant proportion of the 13 million deaths among infants and children under 5 years of age worldwide each year. After respiratory infections, diarrhoeal diseases are the commonest illnesses and have the greatest negative impact upon the growth of infants and young children. The causes of diarrhoeal diseases have tra...

We set out to determine the impact of washing hands with soap on the risk of diarrhoeal diseases in the community with a systematic review with random effects meta-analysis. Our data sources were studies linking handwashing with diarrhoeal diseases. Seven intervention studies, six case-control, two cross-sectional, and two cohort studies were located from electronic databases, hand searching, a...

Purpose: The seeds of Swietenia macrophylla are used in traditional medicine for the treatment of diarrhoea. Thus the petroleum ether extract of Swietenia macrophylla (Meliaceae) seeds was investigated for its anti-diarrhoeal property in Wister albino rats to substantiate folklore claim. Methods: Petroleum ether extract of the seeds of this plant, at graded doses (25, 50 & 100mg/kg body weight)...

PURPOSE To determine whether a change in prophylactic antibiotic protocol for orthopaedic surgeries may reduce the frequency of Clostridium difficile-associated diarrhoeal infections. METHODS Records of 1331 patients who underwent trauma or elective surgeries involving implantation of metalwork were reviewed. 231 trauma and 394 elective patients who received intravenous cefuroxime-based antib...