The International Centre for Diarrhoeal Disease Research, Bangladesh (icddr,b) saw its highest number of daily diarrhoea admissions this year on Monday, with 1,383 people admitted to the hospital.
From 12 midnight to 12 noon yesterday, a further 578 diarrhoea patients were admitted to icddr,b.
From March 16 to 12 noon yesterday, icddr,b admitted a total 25,121 patients for treatment in one of the worst diarrhoea outbreaks in the medical institution’s history. According to icddr,b data, the hospital has been seeing an average of 1,200 patients per day.
On March 28, the second-highest number of 1,334 diarrhoea patients were admitted to the hospital.
icddr,b director Dr Baharul Alam said the diarrhoea outbreak was likely to continue till the rain arrives.
"We can't say when this outbreak will end on a certain date. However, we have noticed that heavy rainfall removes all of the diarrhoeal viruses from the air," he said.
"We are hoping that the number of cases will reduce during Ramadan as most people drink less water and consume less food during the holy month. Diarrhoea is generally transmitted through contaminated water and food," said AKM Tariful Islam Khan, media manager of icddr,b.
He also said no patient would be turned away from the hospital. "We are always prepared for any situation, regardless of the number of daily patients.”
Current situation at icddr,b
According to Dr Baharul Alam, the hospital continues to receive over 1,200 patients each day and the majority of patients are stabilized and released within 24 hours.
"The hospital has around 450 beds, so we don’t have the capacity to accommodate so many patients at the same time. As a result, we discharge approximately 600 patients every day, once they are stable. Our main goal is to keep patients at the hospital for as little time as possible," he said.
He added that icddr,b had opened two makeshift field hospitals to cope with the pressure of patients.
“There are currently 108 patients in Tent-1, whereas Tent-2 contains 50. Furthermore, there are 30-40 more patients on the hospital balcony," he said, mentioning that diarrhoea outbreaks generally lasted six weeks and approximately four weeks had already passed.
He also said an average of 500 patients were hospitalized per day in the first week of March this year, rising to 600 in the second week.
What to do when facing diarrhoea
icddr,b records show that there has been no death from diarrhoea at the hospital yet, but a significant number of patients were dying on the way to getting treatment.
Dr Bahar advised patients to seek treatment from nearby medical hospitals before coming to icddr,b, and not to let the condition become severe.
"This morning, we received a one-year-old who was brought from Fakirapool. We didn't see any sign of life when the child arrived. It might have been possible to save the baby’s life if he had gone to a local hospital,” he said.
"Diarrhoea is not a life-threatening disease unless you delay treatment. As a result, there is no need to visit Mohakhali right away. The treatment for this ailment is well-known among doctors, so people should go to medical centres near their homes as soon as possible,” he said.
He discouraged eating roadside food and advised that people drink purified water.
He also urged that antibiotics be avoided and said diarrhoea patients should be drinking ORsaline.