Intestinal immunity and vaccine development: a WHO memorandum.

As part of the research component of the WHO Diarrhoeal Diseases Control Programme, a Scientific Working Group met in August 1978 to review recent advances in knowledge of intestinal immunity, the application of genetic techniques in enteric vaccine development, the status of currently available immunizing agents against cholera, typhoid fever, and Shigella dysentery, and the prospects for the development of new or improved vaccines against the well known and newly recognized agents such as rotavirus and enterotoxigenic Escherichia coli. In each of these areas, the Group made specific recommendations for further research that should be considered for support under the WHO research programme in the field of diarrhoeal diseases.