Etiology of Diarrhea in Guinea-Bissau and in Finland

Diarrhoea is the leading cause of death in the world with 2.2 million deaths every year. The majority of deaths are among children in developing countries, but the travellers encounter the disease as well. The studies on the aetiology have suffered from serious methodological deficiencies and the results are even controversial. At the same time, the current diagnostic methods are inadequate. The investigators have recently developed novel multiplex RT-PCR methods to cover the majority of diarrhoeal pathogens. The present study is a collaboration between Finland and Sweden/Guinea-Bissau. The aim is to characterize the causative agents of diarrhoea (a) in Finnish volunteers before and after a travel to tropical areas and, (b) in inhabitants of endemic areas in Guinea-Bissau. For these purposes stool samples will be collected from volunteers of different age groups and from healthy volunteers as well as those with diarrhea both in Guinea-Bissau and in Finland. In addition to pathogens, other intestinal microbes and antimicrobial resistance will be investigated