HEALTH EDUCATION OR PROMOTION OF PARENTAL AUTONOMY?

Key words: Chronic non-specific diarrhea, Toddler diarrhea, Persistent diarrhea, Persistent post-enteritic diarrhea, Post-infective irritable bowel syndrome, Post-infective gut disorder, Anti-inflammatory drugs

In developed countries persistent post-enteritic diarrhea is a clinical syndrome including three distinct entities: chronic non specific diarrhea, usually not associated with failure to thrive; persistent post-enteritic diarrhea, with moderate growth impairment and histological abnormalities; post-infective gut dysfunction, which is likely a component of the irritable bowel syndrome. Animal models of smooth muscle hypercontractility persisting after an acute infection indicate that mediators, such as PGE2, produced by resident cells, actively maintain the persistent changes in the gut during the post-infective status. The reversibility of these functional changes by anti-inflammatory agents provides a basis for the use of anti- inflammatory drugs in patients with post-infective gut disorder.