Spike in diarrhoea patients, mostly children

The International Centre for Diarrhoeal Disease Research, Bangladesh (icddr,b) Hospital in Mohakhali has reported a rise in diarrhoeal diseases, especially in children, due to the ongoing heat wave across the country.

Although many workers of the capital left Dhaka during Eid-ul-Azha holidays, the number of diarrhoea patients has increased. Experts say many people are suffering from diarrhoea due to eating unhealthy food and drinking water from unsafe sources to immediately quench their thirst.

According to icddr,b officials, there has been an increase in the number of diarrhoea cases in the past few days due to the heat and most of the patients coming to the hospital are children. Generally, not so many patients are admitted to the hospital during the Eid holidays.

A total of 194 diarrhoea patients have been admitted to the hospital till 3pm on Thursday, according to icddr,b data.

Last week, 397 patients were admitted to the hospital on Wednesday, 391 on Tuesday, 371 on Monday, and 290 patients on Sunday, the Eid day.

Earlier on 9 July, 355 patients were admitted to icddr,b and 369 were admitted on 8 July. Besides, three patients are admitted to the hospital's ICU who are all children.

Mosharraf Hossain, a resident of Mohammpur in the capital, brought his 11-month-old baby Ibrahim to the hospital on Thursday morning. Ibrahim has had fever and diarrhoea for the past two days. On the advice of a local doctor, he was taken to the icddr,b hospital as there was no improvement.

"I admitted him to the hospital as his condition started deteriorating last night. Even though his body temperature has dropped a bit, diarrhoeal symptoms are still there. My child is extremely fatigued after being sick for two days," Mosharraf Hossain told TBS.

"Frequent sweating due to excessive heat for the past few days and drinking too much cold water must have caused the diseases. However, we drink Wasa supplied water after properly boiling," he added.

The nurses on duty at icddr,b hospital said, "Most of the diarrhoea patients admitted in the last few days are children. Diarrhoea cases are increasing due to the rise in temperature and scorching heat. Usually, we do not see this many patients during the Eid holidays."