Oral Rehydration Therapy in Infectious Diarrhoea

Abstract

The clinical response and changes in water and salt homeostasis as judged from serum sodium levels, salt and water retention and renal handling of sodium was studied during 36 hours following the start of oral rehydration therapy (ORT) with a solution containing 6o mmol Na/l (ORS60) in 17 well-nourished, moderately dehydrated Turkish infants aged 3 to 15 months who had acute infectious diarrhoea (7 with rotavirus 3 with enteropathogenic Escherichia coli 0 111:B 84, and one with enteropathogenic E. coli 0 125:B 15, one with salmonella and 5 of unknown etiology. In the successfully treated patients sodium and water balance was normalized within 36 hours. In the cases with hypernatremic dehydration the serum sodium concentration rapidly became normal. The results were compared with those obtained in a previous study of the same type of patients who were rehydrated with a solution containing 90 mmol Na/l (ORS90). Although retention was considered to be satisfactory after ORS60 it was less than after ORS90. The changes in the fractionary urinary sodium excretion and the potassium sodium quotient in the urine indicated a less rapid normalization after ORS60 than after ORS90.