The role of Escherichia coli in gastroenteritis

During the last 10 years there has been a major break-through in understanding the pathogenic mechanisms of E. coli as a cause of acute diarrhoea. The current situation is briefly tabulated in Table 3. In the near future the field of interest is likely to centre on the investigation of adhesive factors and certainly on the possibility of using preparations of adhesive factors as vaccines. The successful use of such vaccines may have enormous benefit as intervention measures to break the acute diarrhoea--malnutrition syndrome which is so damaging to the life of infants and young children in developing countries.