[Vaccination against diarrheal diseases and typhoid fever. Current status and prospects]

Diarrheal diseases and typhoid fever are still common in developing countries and there is still a search for effective control measures able to prevent the epidemics they cause from time to time. There are recommended preventive measures based on health education and improvement of sewage and water facilities; however these recommendations given for many years have not reached the expected results for different reasons. Antibiotherapy was very effective for many years; unfortunately increasing antibiotic resistance has been reported, particularly in Shigella and typhoid fever treatment. This explains the re-kindled interest currently taking place in vaccines development against infections due to V. cholerae, Shigella, E.coli ETEC, S. typhi and rotavirus. The new available vaccines are very effective and provide greater protection than that given by the old killed injectable vaccines. They paved the way for development of new candidate vaccines easier to deliver (oral vaccines or one dose parenteral vaccine), which already give promising results. Some of these candidate vaccines like those related to Shigella infections are considered as a future promising tool for controlling diarrhea due to Shigella.