Diarrhoea breaks out in flood-hit Bangladesh

Dhaka, Aug 11 (UNI) At least four people died due to an outbreak of diarrhoea in the flood-hit Bangladesh, while officials said thousands of people were hit by the disease.

Health and relief workers, who could not provide exact estimates of the number of deaths due to the water-borne disease, said 27 more flood-related deaths have pushed the toll in the recent devastating floods to 253.

Diarrhoea broke out in almost all the 38 flood-hit districts as doctors and nurses treated about 32,000 patients since July 30 across the country, of which four people have died, Dr Ayesha of the Health Directorate said today.

She said 2,797 medical teams have been working in the flood-affected areas.

''It is an acute form of diarrhoea,'' Dr Pradip Kumar Bardhan of International Centre for Diarrhoea Disease Research, Bangladesh (ICDDRB) told UNB.

He said some 1,000 patients have been admitted to his hospital during the last 24 hours till yesterday night, the highest number in a given time of 45-year history of the specialized hospital.

Dr Bardhan said the bacteria caused dehydration among the patients and affect comparatively adults more.

''We are working round-the-clock but it has become difficult to treat so many patients at a time,'' he added.

The ICDDRB raised tents, arranged additional beds in the compound and appointed more than 100 nurses and cleaners temporarily to tackle the situation.

Dr Bardhan, however, denied to call it Cholera, a definite form of bacteria, until and unless ''it is detected in laboratory test and analysis''.

The current flood affected over nine million people in 33 districts of the riverine country still reeling under waters.

Some 3,24,000 people still remain in flood shelter centres.

The government, private and social organisations are distributing dry foods, water purification tablets and medicines among the flood affected people.

UNI