PROLIFERATION OF ENTEROPATHOGENS IN ORAL REHYDRATION SOLUTIONS PREPARED WITH RIVER WATER FROM HONDURAS AND SURINAM

Abstract

Oral rehydration of infants with diarrhoea is an effective therapy that is becoming increasingly available in developing countries. To formulate judicious recommendations for preparation and storage of such solutions, we assessed the capability of recognized bacterial enteropathogens to survive and proliferate in solutions made either with sterile distilled or river water collected in two developing countries. Shigella flexneri, an enteropathogen typically transmitted by faecal/oral contact rather than by water or food, survived very poorly. In contrast, Vibrio cholerae and enterotoxigenic Escherichia coli, pathogens classically associated with transmission by food and water, reached concent..