Preface

Acute diarrhea is mainly a problem in places where sanitation is poor and where there is a lack of clean drinking water and poor personal and domestic hygiene. Acute diarrhea is the second most common cause of childhood mortality. Treatment of acute diarrhea has been simplified with the development of oral rehydration therapy. Rehydration is done on the basis of the degree of dehydration. The current classification of the degree of dehydration has some drawbacks. The new classification method is expected to provide a more simplified method to categorize dehydration. Development of drug resistance among enteric pathogens necessitates the development of safe and effective drugs. Herbal drugs are alternatives. I hope this book will be useful for researchers and clinicians.

I am grateful to the authors who submitted their articles for incorporation in this book. I will be failing if I do not acknowledge the excellent assistance rendered by Ms Kristina Kardum in all stages of preparation of the book.

**II**

**Section 6**

Acute Diarrhea and Epilepsy **85**

**Chapter 6 87**

Acute Diarrhea as a Manifestation of Abdominal Epilepsy

*by Tomohiko Murai and Masako Kinoshita*

**Sujit K. Bhattacharya** Nirnòy Hospital and Research Centre, Medinipur, West Bengal, India

**1**

Section 1

Introduction

Section 1 Introduction

**3**

**Chapter 1**

*Sujit K. Bhattacharya*

of people is shifted to refugee camps.

**3. New strain** *Vibrio cholerae* **O139**

**1. Introduction**

**2. Disease burden**

people.

Introductory Chapter: Perspectives

of Recent Advances in Research in

Acute diarrhoea is defined as frequent passage of loose or watery stools mixed

According to an estimate [1] by the World Health Organization, 3–5 million cholera and cholera-like cases occur worldwide, and 100,000–120,000 million cases die with a case-fatality rate of 2.25% (range 1–10%). This figure is actually grossly underestimated, because of under-reporting. These diseases, under the overarching syndrome of acute diarrhoea, cause tremendous pressure on the healthcare delivery system, and during epidemics and pandemics, this is compounded as a real public health problem. There have been seven pandemics (epidemic all over the world) of cholera which spread to more than 102 countries worldwide and killed millions of

An unprecedented happening occurred in the epidemiology of acute diarrhoea [2] when a novel strain of *Vibrio cholerae non* O1 was found to produce an exotoxin akin to cholera toxin and caused large-scale epidemics. The stain was named as *Vibrio cholerae* non O139 Bengal because the strains were isolated from the coastal region of the Bay of Bengal. The disease caused by this stain was indistinguishable from O1 cholera. The same strain of *Vibrio* was isolated from the UK, Germany, the Netherlands, Nepal, Bhutan, Indonesia and Japan. This was thought to be the begin-

ning of eight cholera pandemic, but this actually did not happen so.

with mucus and causes morbidity and mortality particularly in children. The scope of the book is to present information on acute diarrhoeal diseases in relation to clinical features, dehydration, management and prevention. When the stool contains blood, it is called dysentery. Acute diarrhoea is an ancient problem with tremendous public health significance. Acute diarrhoeal diseases comprise of acute watery diarrhoea and acute bloody diarrhoea (dysentery). The prototype of acute watery diarrhoea is cholera, while the same for dysentery is shigellosis. It caused extensive epidemics during flood, famine, war and earthquake when large number

Acute Diarrhoeal Diseases
