Gastroenteritis: A Common Cause of Morbidity and Mortality Infective gastroenteritis by far becomes the most common explanation when young children experience sudden onset of diarrhea, with or without vomiting.1Diarrhoea and Vomiting Caused by Gastroenteritis, Diagnosis, Assessment and Management in Children Younger than 5 Years. Available at: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmedhealth/PMH0016589/. Accessed on: 4.5.16. It is a very common childhood disease and its frequency amongst is generally more than one episode in a year.Nearly 3-5 billion children are affected worldwide with gastroenteritis each year, accounting for 1.5-2.5 million deaths per year or 12% of total global mortality in the age group between 1-4 years.2Chow CM, Leung AK, Hon KL. Acute gastroenteritis: from guidelines to real life. Clinical and experimental gastroenterology. 2010;3:97-112. Even in the developing nations, children with gastroenteritis are particularly at risk of both morbidity and mortality.2Chow CM, Leung AK, Hon KL. Acute gastroenteritis: from guidelines to real life. Clinical and experimental gastroenterology.…
Irritable Bowel Syndrome and its Burden Irritable bowel syndrome is one of the most common functional gastrointestinal disorders, marked by alteration in bowel habits without any underlying organic pathology. The globally conducted population based studies have revealed the prevalence of IBS between 3-22%, which may go as high as 30% in some parts of the world. Even in the Asia-Pacific region, there has been a surge in prevalence rates of IBS, particularly in developing countries.1Basandra S, Bajaj D. Epidemiology of Dyspepsia and Irritable Bowel Syndrome (IBS) in Medical Students of Northern India. Journal of Clinical and Diagnostic Research : JCDR. 2014;8(12):JC13-JC16. In India, the prevalence of IBS has been reported to be 4% in Northern rural communities and nearly 7.6% in Mumbai.2Makharia GK, Verma AK, Amarchand R, Goswami A, Singh P,Agnihotri A, Suhail F, Krishnan A. Prevalence of Irritable Bowel Syndrome: A Community Based Study From Northern India. Journal of…
