Abstract

The optimal use of biotechnology to address the health care needs of developing countries entails the formation of interdisciplinary working groups linking basic biomedical scientists with public health workers, epidemiologists, physicians, and social scientists. Their mission should be congruent with and guided by the public health goals and primary care program of the country or region. Moreover, their research and development activities should lead to products that address a specific need and which are evaluable, cost-effective, and readily transferred to the public health sector. With respect to the enteric infections of childhood, the essential components of an integrated control effort are a field site where infections of this kind are common and readily studied; a local public health laboratory where the performance of new products can be tested and where technology transfer can occur; a basic science laboratory where molecular pathogenicity studies lead to new diagnostic tests, vaccines, and drugs; and a production laboratory where these products can be refined and prepared in sufficient amounts for field testing. This strategy is now being evaluated for the control of infantile diarrhea through the combined use of epidemiologic investigations, DNA probe and amplification techniques, and molecular fingerprinting. Together, these methods are yielding new information about microbial reservoirs and transmission systems; in turn, this information should lead to highly focused public health interventions.

View details for PubMedID 1869809