Global burden of enteric infectious diseases, diarrhoeal diseases, and corresponding aetiologies, 1990-2023: a systematic analysis for the Global Burden of Disease Study 2023.
Food Safety
Rotavirus and other gut pathogens thrive in the same contaminated water and poor sanitation conditions that also stress your vegetable garden's soil ecology and make homegrown produce unsafe to eat without careful washing.
Scientists tracked deadly gut infections worldwide over 33 years and found big improvements—far fewer people are dying than in 1990. But over a million people still die each year, mostly babies and toddlers in the world's poorest regions. Rotavirus, a common stomach bug, is the single biggest killer among children, responsible for about 40% of child deaths from these diseases.
Key Findings
Global deaths from enteric infectious diseases fell from 3.69 million in 1990 to 1.27 million in 2023, a decline of roughly 66%.
Rotavirus caused 40.2% of diarrheal disease deaths in children under 5, making it the leading single pathogen; 63 of 204 countries still had not met the international child mortality target by 2023.
Sub-Saharan Africa and South Asia together accounted for over 1.1 million of the 1.27 million total enteric disease deaths in 2023.
chevron_right Technical Summary
A major global study found that deaths from diarrheal and enteric diseases dropped by nearly two-thirds between 1990 and 2023, yet still killed 1.27 million people in 2023—mostly young children in sub-Saharan Africa and South Asia, with rotavirus remaining the top killer.
Abstract Preview
Enteric infectious diseases claim more than 1 million lives annually and are among the top ten causes of death in children younger than 5 years. Remarkable global investment has been dedicated to e...
open_in_new Read full abstractAbstract copyright held by the original publisher.
Was this useful?
Chloroplast Genome Editing Eliminates Gluten Immunogenicity in Triticum aestivum
It could mean that people with celiac disease — roughly 1 in 100 worldwide — may one day safely eat bread made from real wheat, without sacrificing the taste...