A FIELD TRIAL OF WHEAT-BASED ORAL REHYDRATION SOLUTION AMONG AFGHAN REFUGEE CHILDREN

A total of 326 Afghan children aged between 6 months and 5 years with uncomplicated nondysenteric diarrhea for the previous 24 h to 5 days w ere treated at home by their mothers with either wheat-salt solution ( WSS) or World Health Organization recommended glucose-oral rehydration salts (G-ORS). For 7 consecutive days the children were examined in t he household and the mothers interviewed to assess the progress, feedi ng practices, and perception of treatment efficacy. Children treated w ith WSS recovered significantly earlier; the mean duration on treatmen t was 4.0 days (SD 1.7 days) on WSS compared to 6.4 days (SD 1.7 days) on G-ORS. By the second day of treatment, significantly more mothers using WSS (56%) reported that their children had formed stools versus 11% of their G-ORS counterparts; the mean stool frequency after 2 days was also significantly reduced; 3 stools day(-1) (SD 2.1) on WSS vers us 5 (SD 2.9) on G-ORS. The cereal-based solution was not confused wit h normal food and led to better feeding patterns. By day 2, 74% of the mothers using WSS had resumed their normal feeding frequencies as opp osed to 33% of G-ORS mothers. On recovery the WSS group had gained sig nificantly more weight; the WSS group gained 169 g (SD 142 g) while th e G-ORS group lost 150 g (SD 174 g). This study suggests by subjective and objective measures that WSS could be considered as an effective h ome fluid for the first-line treatment of diarrhea.