Abstract
Summary In this study 161 cholera patients were promptly rehydrated with normal saline solution alone. The mortality rate was 3.11%. Normal saline solution seemed most suitable for initial rehydration, but sodium bicarbonate and KCl solutions are recommended for intravenous or oral substitution after initial rehydration in severe cases. Prompt correction of loss of fluid and electrolytes is necessary to save the patients. Chemotherapy with phthalylsulfathiazole and chloramphenicol proved of little value clinically but appeared to limit frequency and duration of the carrier state. On the basis of the data presented in this paper it seems reasonable to suppose that the decrease in mortality rate from 8.2% in Bangkok and Dhonburi in 1958 to 5.2% in 1959 and 3.11% in this series was due largely to the effectiveness of the prompt treatment described here. Mortality may also have been held in check in part by immunization of many persons, good socioeconomic and sanitary conditions and hospital facilities.
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