Oral rehydration therapy

Oral rehydration therapy treats dehydration by giving a glucose-and-salt solution by mouth, replacing water and electrolytes without requiring intravenous fluids.

Sodium-glucose cotransport: A membrane transport process that moves glucose and sodium ions together into cells. The solution exploits this transport in the small intestine to absorb sodium and water.
Dehydration: A deficit of body water that can impair normal physiological function. It is the condition oral rehydration therapy is designed to correct.
Cholera: An acute intestinal infection caused by toxin-producing strains of Vibrio cholerae. Cholera outbreaks drove the search for a practical way to replace massive fluid losses.
WHO oral rehydration solution: A standardized oral rehydration formulation recommended by the World Health Organization. Its measured glucose and electrolyte concentrations provide a widely used treatment recipe.
Child mortality: The frequency of deaths among children in a defined population and period. Widespread oral rehydration has helped reduce deaths from childhood diarrheal dehydration.
Sodium: A chemical element whose ions are the main positively charged particles in extracellular fluid. Oral rehydration solution supplies sodium lost in diarrheal stool.
Diarrhea: The passage of loose or watery stools, often causing loss of water and salts. Diarrhea is a leading cause of dehydration treated with oral rehydration.
Richard Cash: An American physician and global-health researcher known for work on cholera and oral rehydration. His clinical research helped establish oral rehydration as effective treatment for cholera.
Reduced-osmolarity oral rehydration solution: A WHO-recommended formulation with lower total solute concentration than the earlier standard solution. It is the current standard for most cases of acute diarrhea and dehydration.
Diarrheal disease: Illness caused by infections or other conditions that produce diarrhea. Oral rehydration changed the treatment of dehydration across many diarrheal illnesses.

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