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A case of cholera occurred in Kingston, Ont. in 1974 in a traveller from South Africa. Treatment, based on an understanding of the pathophysiology of cholera diarrhea and the mechanism of action of the Vibrio cholerae enterotoxin on gastrointestinal fluid loss, consisted of correcting the severe loss of fluid and electrolytes and the metabolic acidosis, as soon as the patient could tolerate taking fluids orally, further fluid replacement consisted increasingly of oral administration of glucose and saline. Tetracycline therapy was given only to shorten the duration of the acute illness.

Proctosigmoidoscopic examinations were performed on 363 patients who had gastrointestinal but no colonic symptoms. Thirty-four, all over the age of 40, were found to have polypoid lesions, 24 of which were adenomatous. Air-contrast barium enemas were utilized to rule out higher lesions in the patients with one or more adenomatous polyps. One early carcinoma of the ascending colon was so discovered. The cost of finding an adenomatous polyp in a patient without colonic symptoms was calculated to be $523.75 and of a carcinoma $12,570.