Diarrhoea cases on rise as summer begins

Bangladesh is experiencing an unusual outbreak of diarrhoea in pre-monsoon season with a record number of patients rushing to the International Centre for Diarrhoeal Disease Research for treatment, authorities said.

A total of 1,272 patients were admitted to the hospital on Tuesday, a record for single-day patients, said icddr,b  spokesperson AKM Tariful Islam.

Earlier on March 16, a total of 1,057 patients were admitted to the hospital. The hospital data showed that on March 20 a total of 1,157 patients were admitted and the figure jumped to 1,216 on March 21.

Tariful said that the hospital received the highest 1,047 patients in a single day in April 2018 before this season.

On average, they receive around 500 patients a day in this period of early summer, he said.

The diarrhoea cases were also on the rise in other districts, said officials.  

Pre-monsoon outbreak normally starts at the end of March and ends in May, mostly affecting adult people. The post-monsoon diarrhoeal disease mostly affects children in winter, doctors said.

icddr,b  officials said that the hospital is flooded with patients, mostly from the capital’s Jatrabari, Lalbagh, Mirpur, Mohammadpur, Motijheel, Ramna, Uttara and Tejgaon areas. Patients are also coming from Savar, Keraniganj, Tongi and Gazipur areas.

icddr,b  spokesperson Tariful said most of the patients suspect that they fell ill after drinking water from unsafe sources.

‘We are yet to know exactly why the number of patients increased unexpectedly. We collected stool samples of some patients and were examining it,’ he said.

icddr,b  treats diarrhoea patients free of cost and it never refuses to treat any patient.

To tackle the rising number of patients’ icddr,b  set up a 90-bed in its compound.

As the authorities feared that the number of patients might increase, officials said they were seen preparing to set up another tent with 60 beds in its compound.

‘We cannot provide beds to all patients. If someone feels better we are releasing him to accommodate the new patients,’ said Baharul Alam, the head of icddr,b hospital.

 Baharul added that 20 to 25 per cent of patients were getting admitted with severe dehydration.  No patient, however, died of dehydration at the hospital, he said.

 One patient was brought dead yesterday [Tuesday] from Savar’s Amin Bazar. We did not know the cause of death as there was no diagnosis here.

Nazma Akhter, a resident of Uttara, said her three-year-old daughter Nusaiba Akter had been suffering loose motion for five days. Nusaiba’s condition deteriorated on Monday, prompting Nazma to take her to the icddr,b.

‘Doctors released her a few hours after we took her here. But we had to take her to the hospital again as her condition deteriorated,’ Nazma said.

While talking to New Age, several patients and their attendants at the hospital said on Wednesday that they rushed to the hospital after they had vomited and suffered from acute loose motion.

Civil surgeons of at least four districts – Rajshahi, Khulna, Jashore and Tangail – said that the number of diarrhoea patients was on the rise but it was yet to reach an alarming level.

Public health expert and former vice-chancellor of Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujib Medical University Professor Nazrul Islam told New Age that diarrhoea was once of the deadly diseases in Bangladesh but with icddr,b inventing oral saline the country showed huge success in tackling the disease.

‘It is mainly water-borne disease. People should be more careful about drinking and eating to prevent this disease,’ he said.

He said that high temperature in summer facilitates the rapid growth of the water-borne bacteria, viruses or parasites in food and drink items and their consumption causes diarrhoea.

Baharul said 10-12 per cent of patients have to revisit the hospital for not obeying the directives of physicians.

He said that diarrhoea is a self-remitting disease. Patients in most cases need no medicine but rehydrating is very important.   He advised people to wash their hands, take enough safe water and food to avoid the disease.

World Health Organization defines diarrhoea as a symptom of an infection in the intestinal tract, which can be caused by a variety of bacterial, viral and parasitic organisms.

Infection is spread through contaminated food or drinking-water, or from person to person as a result of poor hygiene.

To prevent it WHO suggests access to safe drinking water, use of improved sanitation, hand washing with soap, exclusive breastfeeding for the first six months of life and good personal and food hygiene.

News Courtesy:

https://www.newagebd.net/article/166231/diarrhoea-cases-on-rise-as-summer-begins