Current Trends in the Management of Childhood Gastroenteritis in the Community

Infection of the gastrointestinal tract are still amongst the most common infections of childhood. Despite improvements in the standard of living over the last fifty years, gastroenteritis still constitutes a sizeable amount of general practitioner consult­ ations and hospital admissions. Although most infections are mild and self-limiting with the minimum of active treatment, a small proportion require more aggressive management and hospital admission. With the advent of oral rehydration solutions the management of gastroenteritis has become simpler and the complication of hypern­ atraemic dehydration rare.