Diarrhea in children on rise in Bangladesh's capital as temperature plummeting

The number of diarrhea patients, mostly children, is on the rise in Bangladesh's capital Dhaka like previous years with the inception of temperature plummeting months, causing outbreaks of the rotavirus-induced disease, officials said Thursday.

Rotavirus, the leading single cause of severe diarrhea among infants and young, contribute to quicker outbreak of the waterborne disease every year in the South Asian country during the winter season from November to February.

In the first 11-day of this month, officials said a total of 4,413 patients got admission in the International Center for Diarrhea Disease and Research, Bangladesh (ICDDR,B) in Dhaka with acute complaints of stomach upset while the numbers were 7,743 in October.

During the same period in 2008, according the statistics provided by the ICDDR,B authority on Thursday, some 2,975 patients got admission in hospital with diarrhea disease.

The ICDDR,B data showed some 380 people with the same complaints visited the hospital, the main diarrhea treatment center in the South Asian country, in 24-hour till Wednesday midnight, while 372 patients came on Tuesday.

Visiting ICDDR,B on Thursday it has been observed that a number of temporary tents have been set up at the hospital premises following the influx of patients.

Pradip Bardhan, Head of Special Care Unit of ICDDR,B, told Xinhua Thursday, the number of diarrhea patients, particularly the children, is increasing day-by-day since the beginning of the cold month.

He said every year, particularly during this period, the number of diarrhea patients rises with children from the poverty-ridden families in the city being the worst victims.

Doctors in the hospital said scarcity of safe water and growing number of mothers' reluctance to breast feeding are among other reasons behind the rise in diarrhea outbreak in the country.

Diarrhea situation deteriorated in Bangladesh during January-March period of this year while a total of around 64,000 people were affected by the disease compared to 62,144 in January-March of last year.

Some 15 people in Bangladesh died due to diarrhea that time, in-charge of the government's diarrhea control room under the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare Nurul Islam had earlier told Xinhua.

However, Bardhan said the number of diarrhea patients in the capital has been on the rise since mid October this year, but the situation is still under control despite deterioration in the first week of this month when they received highest 488 patients in a day.

According to the ICDDR-B data, a total of 127,081 patients have so far this year got admission in the hospital, which provides treatment at free of cost, against 122,191 patients in 2008.

Against this backdrop, Shahdat Hossain, head of long-stay clinical unit in the country's biggest diarrhea hospital ICDDR,B, said they are launching a five-year long project to assess the feasibility of using an oral cholera vaccine in collaboration with the Bangladeshi government.

He said evidence-based data showed that increasing rates of cholera and diarrheal patients are coming to the ICDDR,B diarrhea hospital from the northern part of Dhaka city, and, therefore, this area has been chosen to receive the vaccine.

Hossain said 120,000 people above the age of one year will be vaccinated, excluding pregnant women. The project has two components including vaccine provision and behavior change communication for promotion of hand washing and safe water treatment, he said.

Nurul Islam, In-charge of the government's diarrhea control room under the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, had earlier said about 393 people died of diarrhea and related diseases out of over 2.2 million people affected last year in the country.

Source: Xinhua