Cholera, Diarrhea, and Oral Rehydration Therapy: Triumph and Indictment

Cholera drove the sanitary revolution in the industrialized world in the 19th century and now is driving the development of oral rehydration therapy (ORT) in the developing world. Despite the long history of cholera, only in the 1960s and 1970s was ORT fully developed. Scientists described this trea...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Clinical infectious diseases 2003-08, Vol.37 (3), p.398-405
Main Authors: Guerrant, Richard L., Carneiro-Filho, Benedito A, Dillingham, Rebecca A.
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Bacterial diseases
Biological and medical sciences
Biomedical Research
Childhood
Cholera
Cholera - mortality
Cholera - therapy
Developed Countries
Diarrhea
Diarrhea - economics
Diarrhea - etiology
Diarrhea - therapy
Fluid therapy
Fluid Therapy - economics
Human bacterial diseases
Humans
Infections
Infectious diseases
Medical sciences
Morbidity
Mortality
Oral rehydration
Rehydration Solutions
Sanitation
Sodium
Toxins
Tropical bacterial diseases
Vibrio cholerae
Viewpoint
Water
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Summary:Cholera drove the sanitary revolution in the industrialized world in the 19th century and now is driving the development of oral rehydration therapy (ORT) in the developing world. Despite the long history of cholera, only in the 1960s and 1970s was ORT fully developed. Scientists described this treatment after the discovery of the intact sodium-glucose intestinal cotransport in patients with cholera. This new understanding sparked clinical studies that revealed the ability of ORT to reduce the mortality associated with acute diarrheal disease. Despite the steady reductions in mortality due to acute dehydrating diarrheal diseases achieved by ORT, the costly morbidity due to these diseases remains, the result of a failure to globalize sanitation and to control the developmental impact of diarrheal diseases and their associated malnutrition. New advances in oral rehydration and nutrition therapy and new methods to recognize its costs are discussed in this review.
ISSN:1058-4838
1537-6591
DOI:10.1086/376619