Diarrhoeal diseases of infants and children. Mortality and epidemiology.

The diarrhoeal diseases in all countries have been, and in many still are, the principal cause of death among infants and children. This article traces the changes in the pattern of mortality from these diseases throughout the world. It then discusses their epidemiology, in terms of the clinical picture seen in the economically more advanced countries on the one hand, in the less advanced countries on the other. Much of the epidemiology is still obscure, and some of the directions which further investigations might take are indicated.