In a controlled clinical trial, we examined the effect of the short-term feeding of an energy-dense milk cereal formula in malnourished children with clinically severe dysentery due to acute shigellosis. Seventy-five malnourished children, aged 12-48 mo, passing blood or blood with mucous in the stool for < or = 96 h, were offered a hospital diet. In addition, study children (n = 36) were offered a milk-cereal formula with an energy of 5 kJ/g (an 11% protein diet); similarly, control children (n = 39) were offered a milk-cereal formula with an energy content of 2.5 kJ/g (an 11% protein diet). Patients were admitted to the metabolic ward of the Clinical Research and Service Centre, Dhaka, at the International Centre for Diarrhoeal Disease Research, Bangladesh. Patients were studied for 10 hospital days and were then followed up at home after 30 d. After 10 d of dietary intervention, children in the study group had a significantly greater increase vs. controls in weight-for-age (6 vs. 3%, P < 0.001) and in weight-for-height (7 vs. 3%, P < 0.001). Serum prealbumin concentrations were significantly higher (study vs. control) after 5 d (0.214 vs. 0.170 g/L, P = 0.01) and after 10 d (0.244 vs. 0.193 g/L, P = 0.006) of the study. Greater weight-for-age was sustained at home 1 mo after discharge (8 vs. 5%, P = 0.005) from the hospital. Similarly, higher weight-for-height was sustained 1 mo after discharge (8 vs. 5%, P = 0.01). During their stay at home, there was no dietary intervention. The results of this study suggest that short-term feeding of an energy-dense diet enhances growth in malnourished children with acute dysentery due to shigellosis.