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Childhood diarrhoeal diseases in developing countries

Harriet U Ugboko1, Obinna C Nwinyi1, Solomon U Oranusi1

  • 1Microbiology Research Unit, Department of Biological Sciences, Covenant University, Canaanland, KM 10, Idiroko Road, P.M.B, 1023, Ota, Ogun State, Nigeria.

Heliyon
|April 24, 2020
PubMed

Insights

Diarrhoeal diseases pose a global health threat, particularly to young children. Metagenomics offers a promising new approach for identifying the causes of infectious diarrhoea, overcoming limitations of traditional methods.

Area of Science:

  • Microbiology
  • Public Health
  • Genomics

Background:

  • Diarrhoeal diseases represent a significant global public health concern, being a primary cause of mortality in children under five.
  • Conventional diagnostic methods for diarrhoeal diseases are often laborious, time-consuming, and fail to identify a substantial proportion of causative pathogens.
  • Up to 40% of diarrhoea cases remain without an identified aetiological agent using current techniques.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To review current trends in the epidemiology and treatment of diarrhoeal diseases.
  • To explore the potential of metagenomics as a diagnostic tool for enteric infections.
  • To address the diagnostic gap in identifying causative agents of diarrhoea.

Main Methods:

  • Literature review of recent epidemiological data on diarrhoeal diseases.
  • Review of current treatment strategies for infectious diarrhoea.
  • Assessment of metagenomics techniques for pathogen detection in enteric infections.

Main Results:

  • Diarrhoeal diseases disproportionately affect children under five, accounting for a large global health burden.
  • Limitations of conventional methods necessitate advanced diagnostic approaches.
  • Metagenomics shows potential for comprehensive pathogen identification in diarrhoeal diseases.

Conclusions:

  • Accurate and timely diagnosis of diarrhoeal disease aetiology is critical for effective public health interventions.
  • Metagenomics presents a powerful tool to overcome the limitations of conventional diagnostics for enteric infections.
  • Further research and implementation of metagenomics can improve the management and understanding of diarrhoeal diseases.

Keywords:
ChildhoodDiagnosticsDiarrhoeaEpidemiologyMedical microbiologyMetagenomicsMicrobiologyMicrobiology epidemiologyMolecular biologyTherapy

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