More than 90% of the world's children live in low income countries, where infectious diseases are the predominant cause of the increased rates of childhood mortality and morbidity that are typical of these settings (1). With regard to gastrointestinal infections (GI) in particular, the World Health Organization estimates that nearly one billion episodes of diarrhea occur annually among children aged less than 5 years in the developing world, resulting in more than three million deaths (2). These illnesses are more likely to occur in children with pre-existing nutritional deficits and the episodes to be of longer duration, of greater severity, and to result in death in malnourished children. Moreover, the illnesses themselves contribute further to malnutrition in affected children (Fig. 1). This article reviews some of the relations between GI infection and children's nutrition from both of these perspectives, relying primarily on the results of clinical research and community-based epidemiologic studies. Other chapters focus on the immunologic mechanisms involved, so these will not be re-examined here.
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