PLoS Neglected Tropical Diseases
http://www.plosntds.org/
(Accessed 30 April 2016)

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Editorial
Nutritional Enteric Failure: Neglected Tropical Diseases and Childhood Stunting
Kirkby D. Tickell, Judd L. Walson
| published 28 Apr 2016 | PLOS Neglected Tropical Diseases
http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pntd.0004523
[Initial text]
Chronic malnutrition, defined by linear growth failure, or stunting, affects over 165 million children globally [1]. In many areas of the world with a high prevalence of stunting, children experience frequent and recurrent exposure to pathogens, including neglected tropical diseases (NTDs). These infections appear to have detrimental effects on linear growth [2–6], but interventions to promote linear growth have demonstrated limited benefit. Difficulty in establishing effective growth-promoting interventions is not unique to NTDs; even the optimal delivery of all interventions known to improve nutritional status is estimated to be able to reverse less than a quarter of all stunting [7]. The failure to identify effective interventions to reverse stunting offers the opportunity to develop a new conceptual model of chronic malnutrition that furthers our understanding of the mechanism linking pathogen and environmental exposures to linear growth failure. Such a conceptual model may guide the identification of new targets for intervention to reduce the substantial morbidity and mortality associated with chronic malnutrition [1]…