Use of human colostrum in the management of chronic infantile diarrhoea due to enteropathogenic E. coli infection with associated intestinal parasite infestations and undernutrition.

This study reports the management of infants with chronic diarrhoea by colostrum feeding. Eight children with chronic diarrhoea, ranging from 9 months to 3 years of age and all from low socio-economic families, formed the basis of this study. They were undernourished and marasmic. Stool examination showed enteropathogenic E. coli in all eight cases, Ascaris lambricoidis in four, and Giardia lamblia in one. Patients with chronic diarrhoea, in whom no cause was found were excluded from this study. All eight patients were administered 20 ml fresh human colostrum daily for 7 days. In addition, those patients, who had giardiasis, received metronidazole treatment, while cases with ascariasis were given antihelminthic therapy irrespective of the groups they belonged to. Our results indicated effective antidiarrhoea action of colostrum in some patients with chronic diarrhoea of infective origin.