Malnutrition and the common communicable diseases of childhood in rural Guatemala.

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Abstract
The common communicable diseases of childhood (measles, whooping cough, mumps, chickenpox and rubella) have a heightened fatality in developing countries and complications are more frequent. The explanation rests mainly on a synergistic interaction with calorie-protein malnutrition, a condition which commonly affects as many as 70% of preschool children less than 5 years old. The specific infectious disease is worsened by the association, and the existing malnutrition is frequently precipitated into the highly fatal kwashiorkor. Examples of a faltering growth and development are given for all 5 diseases. That all behave in exaggerated fashion supports the existence of a common mechanism, malnutrition decreasing host resistance and infectious disease demanding at a depleted host greater requirements of basic nutrients. The specific disease itself is usually the end event in a series of lesser local infections of the intestinal and respiratory tracts, a constant impairment of weight gain, with the specific disease deciding the issue.

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