EPIDEMIOLOGY OF DIARRHEAL DISEASES IN DEVELOPED-COUNTRIES

Diarrhoeal diseases are a common problem in industrialized countries, resulting in appreciable morbidity and mortality. While the total burd en of these illnesses is much less than that in developing countries, the same basic disease risk factors influence transmission. This artic le reviews selected environmental, host and pathogen-specific factors which shape the epidemiology of infectious diarrhoea in developed coun tries. The effective adaptation of techniques from molecular biology, such as plasmid analysis, deoxyribonucleic acid hybridization, and the polymerase chain reaction, to studies of diarrhoeal disease epidemiol ogy is also discussed.