Abstract
We studied a group of Bangladeshi children, aged 6 to 30 months with rotavirus diarrhea and clinically significant dehydration to determine the association of carbohydrate malabsorption with severity of purging and acidosis. These studies were prompted by earlier clinical studies which suggested that stools from patients with rotavirus diarrhea had many characteristics of malabsorption. Of 25 children admitted into the study, 19 had rotavirus antigen in their stool by ELISA and 11 of these had no other pathogen detected. Serum, urine and stool specimens were collected; the stools collected included catheterized and complete collection of all stools passed in order to determine electrolyte, acid, and carbohydrate lost in the stool. The stool sodium was not related to purging rate(in contrast to toxigenic diarrhea); however, the purging rate and metabolic acidosis were related to carbohydrate content of the stool. Thin layer chromatography of the stool revealed many common sugars and an acid titration curve of the stool suggested the presence of buffering by organic acids. Our studies suggest that, in contrast to enterotoxigenic diarrhea, carbohydrate malabsorption plays a primary role in the metabolic acidosis and an important secondary role in the purging of rotavirus diarrhea.
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Sack, D., Rhoads, M., Holla, A. et al. 1062 PATHOPHYSIOLOGY OF ROTAVIRUS DIARRHEA: THE IMPORTANCE OF CARBOHYDRATE MALABSORPTION IN PURGING AND ACIDOSIS. Pediatr Res 15 (Suppl 4), 619 (1981). https://doi.org/10.1203/00006450-198104001-01088
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1203/00006450-198104001-01088