Effect of boiled-rice feeding in childhood cholera on clinical outcome.

Forty-eight children, aged 2-5 years, presenting with watery diarrhoea of less than 48 h duration at home prior to hospitalization, were admitted into a randomized controlled clinical trial, 24 children being treated during the first 24 h of admission with oral rehydration solution (ORS) alone and 24 children being given 'ORS plus boiled-rice feeding'. The latter group received boiled-rice to supply at least 55 kcal/kg/d (about 150 g boiled-rice per feed, given four times daily). Vibrio cholerae were isolated by stool culture on admission from all children. No antibiotics were given. Clinical characteristics of children in the two treatment groups were comparable. Among children given 'ORS plus boiled rice', there was a significant increase in volume of diarrhoea stools (P less than 0.05), duration of diarrhoea in hospital (P less than 0.01), and more frequent diarrhoea motions (not significant statistically). However, the children fed boiled rice absorbed and retained 176 ml more fluid, and had gain in body weight comparable to that observed in children who were not fed during the first 24 h of hospitalization.