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Uncontrolled growth of multidrug-resistant pathogens becomes an important public health problem, due to their ability to develop life-threatening disease. The decrease in the number of newly discovered antibiotics is an incentive for prioritizing the introduction of new agents into modern medical practice. The history of bacteriophages dates back 100 years, when they were discovered by Frederick Twort; subsequently they were used worldwide until the introduction of antibiotics. Later, they continued to be used by the former Soviet Union countries. The chapter on bacteriophages reopens nowadays because of their long term applicability in some countries and the new interest manifested by the USA and Western Europe, having the potential to become a rescue therapy for patients with limited therapeutic options. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Traveler's diarrhea (TD) is a major public health problem affecting the activities of the individual, as well as through the possibility of spreading the disease in the population. This pathology has most commonly bacterial etiology, such as Enterotoxigen Escherichia coli, Enteroaggregative Escherichia coli, Campylobacter jejuni, Shigella spp. and Salmonella spp. Parasites involved in traveler's diarrhea are Giardia lamblia, Entamoeba histolytica and Cryptosporidium spp., and in terms of viruses, most commonly are the Noroviruses. Depending on epidemiological data, patient's symptoms and onset of the disease, the clinical suspicion of the diagnosis can turn towards one of the three etiologies, and just in specific cases will move toward additional appropriate microbiological diagnostic methods in order to establish a more accurate diagnose and to recommend the appropriate therapy. In most of the cases of TD, diagnose should be based on clinical data and treatment recommendations should be empiric (specific and nonspecific). Nevertheless, it is mandatory that each practitioner be aware and well informed that only through judicial epidemiologic and fundamental microbiologic analyses (taking into consideration their limits) there have been developed nowadays, simplified methods for diagnosing and treating TD, but very well adapted to each high risk region. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]