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Previous Volume 351:2417-2427 December 2, 2004 Number 23 Next

	Since this article has no abstract, we have provided an extract of the first 100 words of the full text and any section headings.

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In our ever-shrinking world, widespread media coverage of infections, ranging from the severe acute respiratory syndrome (also known as SARS) and influenza in Asia to acute gastroenteritis on cruise ships and outbreaks in day-care centers in the United States, has raised public interest in contagious diseases to new heights. Our purpose in this article is to examine contagion (from the Latin, tangere, to touch) — direct human-to-human spread — of acute gastrointestinal illness, defined as a syndrome of vomiting, diarrhea, or both, that begins abruptly in otherwise healthy persons and is most often self-limited.

Unlike agents that cause contagious . . . [Full Text of this Article]

Bacterial Causes

Salmonella

Shigella

Campylobacter

Escherichia coli O157:H7

Clostridium difficile

Viral Causes

Caliciviruses

Rotaviruses

Adenovirus Types 40 and 41

Astrovirus

Protozoal Causes

Cryptosporidium

Giardia

E. Histolytica

Prevention

Summary and Conclusions

Source Information

From the Medical Service, Infectious Disease Section, Michael E. DeBakey Veterans Affairs Medical Center, and the Departments of Medicine and Molecular Virology and Microbiology, Baylor College of Medicine — both in Houston (D.M.M.); and the Department of Medicine, University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine, Philadelphia (B.L.M.).

Address reprint requests to Dr. Daniel Musher at the Infectious Disease Section, Veterans Affairs Medical Center, Houston, TX 77030, or at daniel.musher@med.va.gov.

Related Letters:

Contagious Acute Gastrointestinal Infections
Huang D. B., Musher D., Musher B. L.
Extract | Full Text | PDF  
N Engl J Med 2005; 352:1267-1268, Mar 24, 2005. Correspondence

This article has been cited by other articles:

• Huang, D. B., Musher, D., Musher, B. L. (2005). Contagious Acute Gastrointestinal Infections. NEJM 352: 1267-1268 [Full Text]