Malnutrition and infectious diseases are a deadly combination in vulnerable preschool children. Morbidity and mortality from infections, particularly those causing acute and prolonged diarrhea or acute lower respiratory disease, are dramatically increased when the infections are superimposed on a state of chronic undernutrition. This interaction was clearly described in 1968 in a now classic monograph by Scrimshaw et al.¹ Because of their concept of a cyclical relation between malnutrition and infectious disease, most interventions have targeted the elimination of severe protein-energy malnutrition, first by providing increased quantities of better-quality protein and more recently by focusing on adequate energy sources. These . . .