Oral rehydration in acute infantile diarrhoea with a glucose-polymer electrolyte solution.

Seven infants with mild acute diarrhoeal dehydration were rehydrated with an oral sugar-electrolyte solution containing a glucose polymer mixture. Six of them were rehydrated successfully. The high sodium content of the solution (90 mmol/l) was based on the WHO/UNICEF recommended glucose-electrolyte solution and was implicated as the cause of increases in serum sodium in 4 infants, one of whom developed serious hypernatraemia associated with glucose-positive stools. A solution with a lower sodium and glucose-polymer content may be of nutritional benefit in the oral rehydration of acute infantile diarrhoea.