Enterotoxin induced diarrhoea--an update.

The pathogenic personality or the criteria required to be a successful pathogen, of enteric bacteria includes, among others, the ability to produce potent proteins which by different intracellular mechanisms elicit what we overtly see as diarrhoea. Enteropathogens belonging to several genera like Vibrio, Escherichia, Shigella, Salmonella, Campylobacter, Aeromonas and Yersinia include species capable of elaborating strikingly similar exotoxins which seem to share common mechanisms of action involving specific receptor binding, internalization of the toxin followed by interaction with an intracellular target. It is now clear that there are several families of structurally, functionally and immunologically identical bacterial enterotoxins. In this communication, we have reviewed the recent developments on the various families of structurally homologous and antigenically cross reacting enteric toxins.