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How is cholera treated with oral rehydration salts?

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A woman in a pink dress receives medical treatment from nurses administering an IV at a crowded hospital in Saint-Marc, Haiti. — cholera A woman with cholera being treated by nurses at St. Nicholas Hospital in Saint-Marc, Haiti, 2010.

Cholera causes severe dehydration by triggering the rapid loss of fluids and electrolytes from the small intestine. Oral rehydration salts (ORS) are used to treat this by replenishing these essential losses.12

The effectiveness of this treatment relies on a biological mechanism where the absorption of sodium in the intestine is linked to the absorption of glucose. When a patient consumes an ORS solution—a measured mixture of glucose, sodium chloride, potassium chloride, and trisodium citrate—the glucose facilitates more efficient sodium uptake, which in turn promotes the absorption of water into the intestinal walls.341

This therapy is highly effective, allowing most patients to recover without intravenous intervention. Because the mixture can be prepackaged and administered by nonmedical personnel, it serves as a vital, accessible treatment even in adverse conditions, successfully reducing cholera mortality rates to less than 1 percent.143