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  • Title: Introductory address by Dr Demissie Habte on the occasion of the 25th anniversary of ORS.
    Author: Habte D.
    Journal: Glimpse; 1994; 16(2-3):7-8. PubMed ID: 12345476.
    Abstract:
    In Bangladesh, the director of the International Centre for Diarrhoeal Disease Research, Bangladesh (ICDDR,B) gave the introductory address at an awards ceremony to celebrate its key role in the discovery of oral rehydration solution (ORS) 25 years ago. ORS, a simple and affordable treatment for diarrheal disease, has specific amounts of glucose, salts, and water. Oral rehydration therapy (ORT) includes ORS and other solutions made with effective and safe salt concentrations and cereals. In South Asia, rock salt with cooked rice in a thick gruel was used to treat diarrhea as long as 3000 years ago. Researchers at the Cholera Research Laboratory in Dhaka during 1964-1968 learned that adding glucose to a solution of salts greatly helps the intestine's ability to absorb water and electrolytes, and that the intestine could absorb them during acute diarrhea. In November, 1987, the researchers set up a large scale field treatment center at a hospital in Malumghat, between Cox's Bazaar and Chittagong. It treated more than 300 cholera patients. No one died, but the trial was a failure. The researchers designed another clinical trial which showed that ORS reduced the need for intravenous fluids by 75% when treating acute cholera in adults. Another ORS trial in Calcutta yielded the same results. The laboratory also showed that ORS alone could rehydrate people with acute dehydrating diarrhea and that medical auxiliaries could administer it. In 1971, ORS successfully treated Bangladeshi refugees with cholera. The international health community officially accepted ORT in 1978. In developed countries, the potential health care cost savings of ORS use is greater than a few billion dollars at the very least and US$ 10-15 billion from optimal ORS use. Government officials from what is now Bangladesh and the US established the Cholera Research Laboratory 32 years ago. 18 years later, it became ICDDR,B. We must recognize the miracle of ORS.
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