Evaluation of two intravenous rehydration solutions in cholera and non-cholera diarrhoea

A clinical trial was carried out with 126 male patients over 2 years of age suffering from diarrhoea requiring intravenous rehydration, 80 of the patients suffering from cholera and 46 from non-cholera diarrhoea. A new "diarrhoea treatment solution" (DTS) containing sodium at a concentration of 118 mmol/litre and glucose at 44 mmol/litre was compared with the usual Dacca intravenous solution (DS) which has a sodium concentration of 133 mmol/litre and contains no glucose. The other constituents and their concentrations were the same in both solutions. All the patients responded well clinically and made an uneventful recovery. Oral water intake measured during the first 24 h was higher in the group receiving the DS. This group also excreted a significantly higher quantity of sodium in the urine. A significant fall in the level of blood glucose from the admission values occurred in both the groups; the fall was relatively less in the DTS group, this solution containing 44 mmol of glucose per litre. Further work is required to find the optimum concentration of glucose in the solution for infants and young children.