The current status of oral therapy in the treatment of acute diarrheal illness1 ’ 2

Diarrhea! disease continues to be one of the primary causes of morbidity and mortal-ity in the developing world. In small children it ranks among the leading two causes of death, and its contribution as a precipitating and contributing factor to malnutrition, though difficult to estimate, is thought to be major (1-4). Perhaps the main reason that diarrhea! disease continues to be so significant in the developing world is that treatment is not readily available to most of the affected per-sons. However, this explanation is becoming increasingly unacceptable in our time, since acute diarrhea, a self-limited disease, can no