Gastric emptying of oral rehydration solutions in acute cholera

Gastric emptying of rice powder electrolyte solution and of glucose electrolyte solution was measured by a marker dilution double sampling technique in 14 and in 16 adult patients respectively after intravenous rehydration during an attack of acute cholera. Six patients who received rice powder electrolyte solution and seven who received glucose electrolyte solution re-attended for a repeat study with the same test meal 16 days later, when fully recovered from cholera. No differences in gastric emptying patterns of the two electrolyte solutions were observed, either in the acute or in the recovered patients. Similarly, gastric emptying of both solutions was rapid during acute cholera and comparable to that observed in recovered patients. This study indicates that gastric emptying is not impaired in acute cholera and that the rate of emptying of oral rehydration solutions is adequate to account for their observed clinical efficacy in fast purging patients with acute cholera.