Challenge of interaction of nutrition and infection

The most frequent kinds of malnutrition and their interaction with infections as well as the groups at risk have to be identified. The developing countries have a very high prevalence of malnutrition as well as incidence of infection. Usually low-income groups are most at risk. Physiological and cultural factors combine to make children under three years the vulnerable group. Their rapid growth creates high nutritional demands which are often not met. Moreover, children between six months and three years are most susceptible to infection as they no longer enjoy passive immunity and have yet to acquire active immunity. Traditional infant feeding practices often result in very inadequate weaning diets. Consequently protein calorie malnutrition is very common among children. Extreme syndromes like kwashiorkor or marasmus are most often the outcome of synergism between protein calorie malnutrition and infection. Sometimes infectious diseases of childhood seem to initiate major interaction with malnutrition.