Surviving Diarrhea

What Causes Diarrhea
Viruses, bacteria or parasites infect the digestive tract through food or water tainted by feces. They attack the small intestine, causing it to malfunction and disgorge its contents in watery (or bloody) stools. The fluid loss leads to dehydration, marked by dizziness, dry or sticky mouth, less and darker urine, sunken eyes and weight loss. Severe dehydration can lead to shock, kidney failure and death.

Rehydration
Oral rehydration solution (ORS) can reverse most cases of dehydration if given quickly. It can be made from one teaspoon of salt and eight teaspoons of sugar dissolved in a liter of water then administered gradually — at a cost of literally pennies per child.

The Mechanism
When ORS reaches the small intestine, the sodium-glucose co-transport pathway moves sugar from the hollow part of the intestine (lumen) to its lining (epithelium) through the villi. Sugar makes the salt absorption more efficient, and salt promotes water's absorption into the capillary-rich intestinal walls.

Intestinal Villi
Tiny finger-like projections in the small intestine's lining absorb fluid and nutrients into the blood through the capillary-rich layer beneath the epithelium. From there, water is carried away in blood to other parts of the body where it is needed, correcting the imbalance and rehydrating the victim.

Deaths
Worldwide there are 1.9 million deaths in children under 5 every year due to diarrheal diseases. According to WHO, about two-thirds of these (1.3 million) occur in the 15 countries in Asia and Africa.

Causes About 100 intestinal bugs can trigger diarrhea. In developing countries, as in the rest of the world, rotavirus and E. coli are the most common causes of hospitalization due to diarrhea in children.