1.   Net absorption of sodium decreased in patients with acute diarrhoea in the absence of liminal SCFA, but returned to normal with luminal SCFA.

2.   Net secretion of potassium increased in acute diarrhoea, and did not change in the presence of SCFA.

3.   Defective absorption from the rectum in acute diarrhoea is reversed by luminal SCFA.

4.   The reduction of luminal SCFA in acute diarrhoea treated conventionally may be a factor contributing to colonic dysfunction.

5.   In patients with acute diarrhoea, solution I was associated with a significant reduction in the absorption of water and sodium.

6.   Net secretion of potassium into the lumen was significantly increased in acute diarrhoea and was unchanged by the presence of luminal SCFA.

7.   Net absorption of chloride from solution I was significantly decreased in patients with acute diarrhoea.

8.   This study confirms the presence of this abnormality in patients with acute watery diarrhoea, by a dialysis technique that assessed absorption from the rectum.

9.   Similar results were noted both in patients with confirmed cholera and in a clinically similar group of patients with acute watery diarrhoea from whom V cholerae was not isolated.

10.   This study also reports a low faecal output and concentration of SCFA in patients with acute diarrhoea.