Banana therapy in the diarrheal diseases ofinfants and children

Abstract

Summary A study was made on 65 case of diarrheal diseases occurring in infants and children. Twenty-two cases of diarrhea were treated in the hospital, 22 in the out-patient department, and the remaining 21, a bacteriologically proven dysentery group were all treated in the hospital Seventy-five per cent of the cases of diarrhea treated in the hospital gained weight during the attack, while 25 per cent showed weight loss and did not gain until after the diarrhea had subsided. The 22 cases of diarrhea treated in the dispensary showed an average weight gain of 6 ounces. A total of 36 cases of proven bacillary dysentery (including 15 cases reported in the 1935 series) have been treated with one death, a mortality rate of 2.7 per cent, with an average loss in weight of 0.7 ounce. It would appear that banana therapy has helped to maintain bodyweight in diarrheal diseases in infants and children and to have favorably influenced the course of the disease.