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Treatments and drugs
By Mayo Clinic staffCholera requires immediate treatment because the disease can cause death within hours.
- Rehydration. The goal is to replace fluids and electrolytes lost through diarrhea using a simple rehydration solution, Oral Rehydration Salts (ORS), that contains specific proportions of water, salts and sugar. The ORS solution is available as a powder that can be reconstituted in boiled or bottled water. Without rehydration, approximately half the people with cholera die. With treatment, the number of fatalities drops to less than 1 percent.
- Intravenous fluids. During a cholera epidemic, most people can be helped by oral rehydration alone, but severely dehydrated people may also need intravenous fluids.
- Antibiotics. Recent studies show that a single dose of azithromycin (Zithromax, Zmax) in adults or children with severe cholera helps shorten diarrhea duration and decreases vomiting.
- Zinc supplements. Research has shown that zinc may decrease and shorten the duration of diarrhea in children with cholera.
References
- Cholera. World Health Organization. http://www.who.int/mediacentre/factsheets/fs107/en/. Accessed Feb. 19, 2009.
- Cholera. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. http://www.cdc.gov/nczved/dfbmd/disease_listing/cholera_gi.html. Accessed Feb. 19, 2009.
- Cholera. The Merck Manuals: The Merck Manual for Healthcare Professionals. http://www.merck.com/mmpe/sec14/ch173/ch173e.html. Accessed Feb. 19, 2009.
- Butterton JR. Approach to the patient with Vibrio cholerae infection. http://www.uptodate.com/home/index.html. Accessed Feb. 19, 2009.
- Menon MP, et al. Vibrio cholerae (Cholera). In: Long SS, et al., eds. Long: Principles and Practice of Pediatric Infectious Diseases. 3rd ed. Philadelphia, Pa.: Churchill Livingstone Elsevier; 2008:844.
- Seas C, et al. Vibrio cholerae. In: Mandell GL, et al. Mandell, Bennett, & Dolin: Principles and Practice of Infectious Diseases. 6th ed. Philadelphia, Pa.: Churchill Livingstone Elsevier; 2005:2536.
