Changes in plasma composition in calves surviving or dying from diarrhoea

With the growing variety of solutions available for oral and parenteral fluid therapy it is increasingly important to define the adverse changes in plasma associated with diarrhoea, particularly those associated with a fatal outcome. The effects of E. coli-induced diarrhoea in week-old Jersey calves were measured, comparing survivors with those that died. The main effects of diarrhoea were dehydration, metabolic acidosis, pre-renal uraemia and hyponatraemia. Hypernatraemia was unusual and mild. Calves which survived tended to be hypokalaemic whereas those which died showed intensifying metabolic acidosis and hyperkalaemia. Hypoglycaemia developed, but it was not generally worse in calves which failed to survive, though there were exceptions.