[Balance technic in the syndrome of infantile diarrhea]

Ninety-six infants were studied with water balance technique at the Infant Unit of Hospital Roberto del Río, Santiago de Chile. Sixty-eight with acute diarrhoea and twenty-eight with protracted diarrhoea associated to carbohydrate intolerance. Total water losses in most of them were in the range of 150 to 225 ml/kg day. Stool loses were in the range of 25 to 75 gm/kg/day, with humidity percentage varing from 97.4 to 92.5%. In patients with acute diarrhoea, stool losses and humidity percentage showed slight decreasing tendency in the following balances. By contrast, those with protracted diarrhoea showed a definite decreasing tendency in both parameters. Most infants showed a urinary output in the range of 20 to 80 ml/kg/day. Ten percent showed oliguria. Polyuria was observed occasionally. Insensible water losses were in the range of 50 to 80 ml/kg/day. Most patients showed weight gain of 0.1 to 5.0% in the first balance. Stool acidity and presence of reductant substances (tested by positivity of Fehling reaction) were found in 24% of infants with acute diarrhoea in the first balance. Sodium concentration in stools varied from 40 to 70 mEq/l; and potassium varied between 20 and 40 mEq/l. Bacterial pathogens were isolated in 64% of patients with acute diarrhoea; most of them E. coli enteropathogenic.