The inclusion criteria were ascertained and those eligible were considered for inclusion into the study. The child visited the clinic or a home visit was made at 3-4 weeks by a team of health workers and if still alive the infant was randomly assigned to the zinc or to the placebo group. A master randomization code was prepared by using permuted blocks of random numbers using block lengths of 4, 6 and 8. This code was held by a person not involved with the study who numbered the bottles containing the formulation or placebo for each child according to the randomization chart and the bottles were labeled only with the serial numbers of the child in the study. The final code was kept with a person not involved with the study. The zinc syrup and the placebo were similar in appearance, consistency and taste.