Diarrhoea cases surge

Diarrhoea pandemic in the city seems to get a bad shape over the last 10 days with about 450 to 500 patients being admitted to International Centre for Diarrhoeal Diseases Research, Bangladesh (ICDDR'B) every day.
Diarrhoea has broken out in different parts of the capital due to scarcity of pure drinking water, scientists of ICDDR,B at Mohakhali told The Daily Star.
Scorching heat and frequent power cut are also responsible for the outbreak of the waterborne disease, said Azharul Islam Khan, a doctor of ICDDR'B. Normally about 250 to 300 patients get hospitalised each day during this period of a year.
The hospital had to set up three makeshift treatment centres in front of the hospital to accommodate the rising number of patients.
Most of the patients come from the city and its outskirt Tongi, Demra, Kamrangirchar, Amir Bazar, Sabujbagh and old part of the city, ICDDR'B sources said. Besides children, adults and elderly people were also admitted to the hospital.
Apart from ICDDR,B, Dhaka Medical College Hospital (DMCH) and Dhaka Shishu Hospital also saw an increase in the number of diarrhoea patients in the past few days.
Azharul said foods are rotten quickly due to the sweltering weather while frozen food due to frequent load shedding. People take such food and don't drink water and thus fall sick. Living in an unhygienic environment and eating food without washing hands also make people suffer from diarrhoea.
Almost half of the patients are being released from ICDDR'B within 24 hours of their admission.
Diarrhoea is a waterborne disease which causes dehydration of the patient and thus make him or her weak. Doctors advise patients to drink enough pure water to prevent the disease.
Usually, diarrhoea breaks out alarmingly in the country twice each year from April to June and from August to October.
Meanwhile, the sale of oral saline has been increasing for the past few days with its price soaring due to supply shortage, Mizanur Rahman, an employee of Khan Zahan Ali Medicine in front of DMCH told The Daily Star.
AH Badsha, a patient of DMCH, told The Daily Star that he and his cousin Rubel had lunch with vegetable roll and chicken roll from a fast food shop on Thursday.
“Within half an hour both of us felt severe stomach pain and came to the hospital,” he said.