A TRIAL IN THE KARELIAN-REPUBLIC OF ORAL REHYDRATION AND LACTOBACILLUS GG FOR TREATMENT OF ACUTE DIARRHEA

In a controlled trial in Petrozavodsk, Karelia, the effects of oral re hydration and Lactobacillus strain GG (LGG) on recovery from acute dia rrhoea (27% rotavirus, 21% bacterial aetiology) were studied in 123 ch ildren aged between 1 and 36 months of age. On admission to hospital, the patients were first randomized to receive either isotonic oral reh ydration solution (ORS) with osmolarity 311 mosmol/l and sodium 90 mmo l/l (WHO-ORS), or a hypotonic ORS with osmolarity 224 mosmol/l and sod ium 60 mmol/l (Light-ORS), and thereafter randomized to receive either 5 x 10(9) colony forming units of LGG or a matching placebo. The two ORS performed equally for acute rehydration, and oral rehydration with either ORS was associated with a shorter duration of diarrhoea than i ntravenous rehydration (p = 0.036). Patients receiving LGG had a signi ficantly shorter duration of watery diarrhoea [mean (SD) 2.7 (2.2) day s] than those receiving the placebo [3.7 (2.8) days, p = 0.03]. LGG si gnificantly shortened the duration of rotavirus diarrhoea but not diar rhoea with confirmed bacterial aetiology.