Bacterial diarrheal diseases are a very important problem for human
health, and many people, especially infants and children, die every year
from diarrheal diseases, particularly in developing countries. Thus, in
1978 the World Health Organization initiated a Diarrhoeal Diseases
Control Programme and is now working actively to control diarrheal
diseases. The "International Symposium on Bacterial Diarrheal Diseases"
which took place in Osaka from March 23rd to 25th, 1982, was organized
by Osaka University with the support of the Ministry of Education,
Science and Culture of the Japanese Government. The aim of this
Symposium was to promote exchange of scientific information on bacterial
diarrheal diseases, few years due since studies in this field have
progressed rapidly during the last to work in many laboratories
throughout the world. It seems appropriate that this Symposium was held
in Osaka, since during the past century Japanese bacteriologists have
made a number of important con- tributions in the field of bacterial
diarrheal diseases. Outstanding among these contributions are the
recognition of Shigella as a causative agent of bacillary dysentery by
Dr. Kiyoshi Shiga and the serotyping of Vibrio cholerae into the Ogawa,
Inaba and Hikojima serotypes by Drs. Kabeshima and Nobechi. Moreover
more recently, Dr. Tsunesaburo Fujino of Osaka University discovered
Vibrio parahaemolyticus as the causative agent of an important diarrheal
disease.