Oral Rehydration Solution.
When someone has Cholera, and you cannot reach a hospital, this is what is used to manage it until the person’s body can fight off the Cholera.
An ORS contains 3 ingredients:
1. Clean water that has been boiled or a commercially sealed bottle.(Bottled water)
2. Electrolytes - available as table salt, which is a chemical that your body need to function properly.
3. Carbohydrates, usually in the form of sugar.
Cholera kills by causing rapid dehydration through vomiting and diarrhoea.
The goal for using ORS is to replace lost fluids and electrolytes.
Drinking water comes straight out of the anus before it can be absorbed by the body, and that’s how the person dehydrates to death.
ORS is water in the form that it is naturally found in the human body so it can be absorbed by the body faster than normal water.
This gives the Cholera victim an opportunity to absorb some water by drinking ORS as opposed to NO water by drinking normal water, which increases their chances of survival.
The formula for preparing ORS is:
— ONE LITRE OF CLEAN WATER
— 6 LEVEL TEASPOONS of SUGAR
— HALF OF ONE LEVEL TEASPOON OF TABLE SALT
(Level Teaspoon means when you take a teaspoon and it’s heaped in the spoon, cut it flat like you used a ruler to slice the heap off.)
Mix all together in the water until everything is completely dissolved.
This is what the person should be drinking little by little, and slowly every few minutes, throughout until their body has enough absorbed enough fluid to fight off the Cholera, which it cannot do without water, so avoiding dehydration by using ORS.
Don’t use Sprite with salt because you can’t ascertain the quantity of sugar in it.
Do not drink fluids with a high sugar content like juice, soft drinks, or energy drinks. Sugary drinks can make diarrhea worse.
