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Foodborne infections are the leading cause of health problems during and after travel to areas of low hygienic standards. The majority of cases are traveler's diarrhea. However, some foodborne infections can cause severe or chronic enteritis (e.g. shigellosis, typhoid fever, amebic dysentery, helminth infections), or diseases of other organ systems (e.g. hepatitis A, poliomyelitis, tissue parasitoses). The etiology of traveler's diarrhea is heterogeneous. Most common are bacteria, notably enterotoxigenic Escherichia coli (ETEC), salmonella, shigella, campylobacter, and rotavirus. New diagnostic methods (PCR, coproantigen-ELISA) increase the diagnostic sensitivity and spectrum considerably. Microbiological diagnosis is indicated in severe or chronic enteritis, and in the immunocompromized. However, to apply the complete spectrum of available methods is economically and medically not justified, and the diagnostic work-up has to be done in a step-wise manner. Antibiotics like ciprofloxacin are effective in treatment and prevention of traveler's diarrhea. However, the empiric use of antibiotics should be restricted to the treatment of dysenteric and febrile cases of enteritis. New antisecretory drugs, nonabsorbable antibiotics, and new vaccines against cholera, ETEC and rotavirus are under clinical development.