Acute gastroenteritis in children

Acute gastroenteritis affects numerous children at least one time in their infancy and childhood. This disease is usually due to viral infection and none treatment is suggested to treat the infection self. In contrast, more concerns are due to dehydration associated with vomiting and diarrhoea.
Dehydration is treated with oral or intravenous intake of fluid, but generally intravenous treatment is preferred because the high likelihood of emesis may reduce benefits. Anti- emetic drugs are not suggested for children for their important adverse effects. Anyway, several studies have been reported in literature that show the effectiveness of ondansetron, an antagonist of serotonin receptor. This drug has been initially developed to treat nausea following chemotherapy in cancer patients; up to date ondansetron seems also promising to care emesis in children during acute gastroenteritis. The major benefit is the reduction of vomiting episodes that make possible to use also oral rehydration treatment. Furthermore, duration of hospital staying or admission rate are also reduced after ondansetron treatment, showing a financial advantage in comparison to traditional approaches. In conclusion, these studies are very important to demonstrate and ascertain the effectiveness of drugs in children in well structured trials. It’s auspicial that other drugs will be analysed at the same manner.