| Summary: | Diarrhea diseases remain one of the greatest health problems in many parts of the world. In some cases, the disease is mild and self-limiting; however, the symptoms may be very severe in the elderly and young children (Smith and Cheasty, 1998), as well as in immune compromised patients such as HIV/AIDS patients. The disease is one of the hallmarks of HIV/AIDS in developing countries and is also a cardinal clinical manifestation of water borne infections (Obi et al., 2007). According to a World Health Organization report (WHO, 2004), diarrhea was rated second, after respiratory infections out of the eight deadliest diseases worldwide and was responsible for 1.8 million deaths per year. This infectious disease which can cause dehydration is primarily a symptom of gastrointestinal infection, but chemical irritation of the gut or non-infectious bowel disease can also result in diarrhoe. Studies have shown that the predominant causative agents of acute and persistent diarrhoe are Gram-negative rods such as Escherichia coli, Vibrio cholerae, Aeromonas, Campylobacter, Salmonella species, Shigella species, Plesiomonas shigelloides and Yersinia enterocolitica (Obi et al., 1995, 1998, 2003; Lainson and Silva, 1999; Coker et al., 2002; Oyofo et al., 2002). Aside from bacterial agents of diarrhoea, other causative pathogens include protozoa such as Giardia lamblia and Cryptosporidium parvum; viruses such as norwalk virus and rota virus. Although fungal agents such as Candida have been shown to be prevalent in children with diarrhoe (Enweani et al. 1994), a more recent study (Forbes et al., 2001), associated higher Candida counts with recent antibiotic use. Faecal concentrations of Candida were higher in patients with diarrhoe, but the study confirmed no association between faecal candida or other yeasts and diarrhoe. Norwalk viruses, calci-like viruses and rota viruses are the major viral agents of diarrhoe. According to Parashar et al., (2006), rota virus is the leading cause of diarrhoe hospitalisation among children worldwide, causing 440,000 annual deaths in children under 5 years of age.
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