[Acute diarrhea: recent etiopathogenetic findings]

Acute diarrhoeas in children represent still now a very serious problem for Public Health either in developing or in industrialized Countries. In the last years great progress has been made in the aetiology and epidemiology of this disease. The most important results, which are worth recording, obtained in this field are: the detection of Rotavirus as a more common agent causing infectious enteritis in children; the "rediscover" of some pathogenic agents (Campylobacter and Yersinia) ignored since some years ago and now emerging; a renewed interest for "old" etiological agents (Giardia lamblia, that seems to be more frequent in industrialized Countries, and E. Coli, from which various pathogenetic mechanisms are now known). Either remarkable are the recent acquaintances on pathogenic mechanisms developed by the agents causing enteritis (production of cytotonic and cytotoxic toxins, invasion and adhesion of intestinal mucosa).