Chapter 20 – Microorganisms Responsible for Neonatal Diarrhea

At the beginning of the 21st century, diarrheal disease continues to be a significant cause of morbidity and mortality worldwide. During the period of 1986 to 2000, an estimated 1.4 billion children younger than 5 years suffered an episode of acute diarrhea every year in developing countries; among these, 123.6 million required outpatient medical care, and 9 million required hospitalization. Approximately 2 million diarrhea-associated deaths occurred in this age group annually, primarily in the most impoverished areas of the world. 1 These estimates are somewhat lower than the more than 3 million annual deaths from diarrhea reported in the prior 10 years, 2 indicating progress in prevention and treatment of acute diarrhea. In the United States, approximately 400 childhood deaths per year were reported during the late 1980s, 3, 4 although the actual number may be higher. 4