Abstract

PIP: The measuring spoons described by Morley and King for making up glucose-electrolyte solutions for use in the oral treatment of children with diarrhea generally deliver less substance than they should. The deficits are significant for sodium chloride and glucose. The quantities these spoons delivered when the substances were in the damp state and after drying to constant weight were compared. Also examined was the effect of packing the substances more tightly by tapping the spoon on the table after the initial filling and then refilling it or by pressing with a thumb or knife. Both methods had a similar effect. 3 kinds of salt were tested, and the glucose spoon was used for coarse brown sugar. For the different kinds of salt in their normal damp state the sodium-chloride spoon delivered averages of 1.8-2.4g instead of the expected 3.5g. Dampness and particle size contributed to these deficits. The spoon for the final sodium concentration in a glucose-electrolyte solution delivered 2.2g of the damp substance. The glucose spoon delivered an average of 13.5g (expected 20) of the damp substance. Drying did not solve the problem as well as it did for fine salts. These problems can be largely overcome by packing the glucose and salt into their spoons more tightly, provided a fine salt is used. The problems with salt-and-sugar solutions are greater, because there is no contribution form the sodium bicarbonate to the sodium concentration and the discrepancy between the amount of salt expected and delivered becomes more critical. For the time being in Mozambique a salt-and-sugar solution will be used in more remote places, and for this purpose a modified version of the "fingers" method is used.