Preserved exocrine function in patients with acute cholera and acute non-cholera diarrhoea

Exocrine pancreatic function was assessed by means of the Lundh test in 14 patients with acute cholera and 18 patients with acute infectious non-cholera diarrhoea within the first 24 h of their admission. Mean tryptic activity amounted to 39.8 +/- 4.8 microEq/min/ml in the cholera group and to 64.4 +/- 11.0 microEq/min/ml in the non-cholera group. None of these patients shared a value below the lower limit of normal. In fact, the mean tryptic activity per 2 h was significantly higher than that reported previously in a control group from the Bengal area. It is therefore concluded that the exocrine pancreatic function is preserved and responds to food stimulation in various types of acute infectious diarrhoea, including cholera. These findings provide the pathophysiological background for the recent observation that oral rehydration solutions containing high-molecular-weight nutrients such as rice powder are at least as efficient or even more potent than the WHO-recommended glucose-electrolyte formula in acute diarrhoea.