Oral hydration therapy for children in Florida

Eighty-six children in Florida died of complications associated with diarrhea between 1985 and 1990, deaths which constituted an important preventable fraction of infant mortality. The state will support health professionals in reducing the number of hospitalizations and deaths due to diarrheal complications, Governor Lawton Chiles announced in September 1991, and the Florida Department of Health and Rehabilitative Services is being awarded a $100,000 grant from the Centers for Disease Control for a three-year study on the effectiveness and utilization of oral rehydration therapy. During the last 20 years, a worldwide experience has developed indicating that sodium-glucose cotransport is preserved in both secretory diarrhea (cholera) and diarrhea produced by loss of surface area. This experience indicates that almost no one would die (adult or infant) if oral rehydration solutions and someone with knowledge in their use were readily available. This presentation has three objectives: (1) increase physicians' awareness regarding the state's oral rehydration therapy project; (2) provide a ready practical guide for those using oral rehydration therapy; and (3) promote use of the therapy as treatment for infantile dehydration rather than the more expensive intravenous therapy.