Gastrointestinal tract diseases in the 21st century in Poland and in the World

At the beginning of the 21st century, there is still a global problem of gastrointestinal infections in all age groups of the population. Norovirus is considered the most common etiological factor of diarrheal disease transmitted by contaminated food in the world. The old etiological factor of diarrhoea such as Vibrio cholerae, Salmonella Typhi and Salmonella Paratyphi persist in the Western Pacific, in Southeast Asia, in the Eastern Mediterranean and in Africa. Children <5 years old are particularly sensitive to food-borne infections. Rotavirus is the primary etiological factor of diarrhoea in this age group in both developed and developing countries. Annually, 500 thousand deaths are reported in the world due gastroenteritis. Limited diagnostic standards of laboratory identification in Poland causes the epidemiological differences of the frequency of diarrheal enteropathogens compared to other countries; this applies to Campylobacter, Norovirus, Shigella. The dominant bacterial factor is Salmonella and among viral factors Rotavirus. In the 21st century knowledge about gastrointestinal infections can be reformulated and the list of etiological factors expanded. This idea is promoted by large-scale studies of intestinal microbiota and the application of new methods in routine diagnostics, such as mass spectrometry and real-time PCR.