ABSTRACT
Diarrhoea is still one of the major health threats to populations in tropical and subtropical poor countries. The World Health Organization (WHO) has estimated that 3-5 billion cases occur each year (1 billion in children, <5 years old) and about 5 million deaths are due to diarrhoea annually (2.5 million in children, <5 years old) (Lanata and Mendoza 2002). In Mexico, intestinal infectious diseases are the 20th most important causes of death. In the year 2004, many deaths (472,273) were registered and 4180 (0.9%) were caused by these diseases. The most affected were children under 4 years (1167; 28%) and people who were >65 years (1587; 38%). The major impact of these illnesses is morbidity, because it demands primary medical services, hospital-care time and labour days lost.
