Patient description: A 34 year old man comes to the clinic complaining of dizziness and severe diarrhea since yesterday. He has returned from an international trip few days ago and was living in a camp in Sudan for a month. He developed abdominal pain followed by bloating and nausea as well as loose bowel movements. Soon he was having profuse watery diarrhea without odor. The stool is watery and white but the patient has no fever. Blood pressure is 95/62 lying down and drops to 75/40 standing. The skin turgor has reduced. HR is 110 and he looks ill with dry mucosa. V. cholerae was seen in dark-field microscopy of a fresh stool specimen. The lab study is as bellow: Sodium 137 meq/L Potassium 2 meq/L Chloride 94meq/L CO2 15 meq/L Fecal leukocytes None seen Fecal occult blood Negative

Clinical trial eligibility criteria: eligible ages (years): 2.0-15.0,  Cholera Age: 2-15 years. Gender: male. Duration of illness: <24 hours. Written informed consent for participation in the study from either of the parents, or guardian, and oral assent from children aged ³ 8 years. Severe dehydration according to World Health Organisation (WHO) guidelines. Positive stool dark field microscopic examination for V. cholerae  History of receiving any antimicrobial agent (including study drugs) effective in the treatment of V. cholerae within 72 hours of screening. Concomitant infection(s) requiring antimicrobial therapy. A concomitant illness that may interfere with the evaluation of outcome or safety of the study drugs. Patients with known chronic renal insufficiency. [As all cholera patients with moderate to severe dehydration have pre-renal insufficiency on admission, and as it is not possible to detect whether a patient has renal failure until the patient has been hydrated for at least 24 hours, serum creatinine will be checked 24 hours post-administration of first dose of study medication, on Day 5, and at any time as clinically indicated. (If the baseline creatinine is > 200 mcmol/L, any patient with creatinine > than 200 mcmol/L 24 hours post-administration, will be considered as suffering from renal failure and will be withdrawn from the trial.) Patients with known cardiac or hepatic impairment, i.e. SGOT/SGPT or bilirubin > 3 times the upper limit of normal, and patients with a history of central nervous system (CNS) disorders (known risk of experiencing seizures, a history of convulsive disorders or head injury trauma, currently on anti-seizure medication or within two months post-stroke). Patients previously enrolled in the study. Patients participating in any clinical study within one month prior to study entry. Patients' known to have AIDS. Patients treated with quinolones in the 14 days prior to the study. Patients known to have underlying rheumatological disease, joint problems, etc. Patients with a known hypersensitivity to any of the study drug regimens or related compounds (including fluoroquinolones and macrolides). Female patients who are lactating, or are sexually active and using unreliable contraception. Patients having a known underlying rheumatological disease, joint problems secondary to trauma or pre-existing conditions known to be associated with arthropathy. Patients with conditions precluding the performance of a reliable series of musculoskeletal examinations are to be excluded from trial participation