After Dhaka, the diarrhoea outbreak has spread to several parts of Bangladesh including Kurigram, Rajshahi and adjacent areas.
In Rajshahi, the number of diarrhoea patients has increased significantly.
On Monday, a total of 41 children were admitted to Rajshahi Medical College Hospital (RMCH) with diarrhoea.
From last Thursday to Sunday, some 140 children were admitted to the hospital. Many of them have returned home after receiving treatment.
According to the hospital doctors, many people are consuming juice from the streets to quench their thirst due to the heat. Usually, contaminated water is used to make the juice in an unhygienic environment.
In addition, children are having diarrhoea due to the heatwave.
Nina Khanam, senior staff nurse at RMCH and in-charge of Ward No 10, said that most of the patients were coming with cough, fever, vomiting, and diarrhoea. “Many of them are aged between two months and seven years.”
RMCH Director Brigadier General Shamim Yazdani said that the number of patients was a bit higher than that of last year, “but it’s not too much. At the latest, 72 people are being treated for diarrhoea at the children's ward.”
In Dhaka, the International Centre for Diarrhoeal Disease Research, Bangladesh (icddr,b) hospital has been witnessing a massive spike in diarrhea patients for the past two weeks that has broken all records set over the past 40 years. Adults make up the majority of the patients in the capital.
In Kurigram, most of the diarrhoea patients are children.
Due to limited capacity at the diarrhoea ward of Kurigram General Hospital, the authorities are placing the patients on the hospital floor and corridors, reports Bangla Tribune.
A nurse on duty said that the total number of patients in the 12-bed ward was 39 on Monday afternoon. Among them, 26 were children.
Only a few hours earlier, nine diarrhoea patients including four children were taking treatment at the ward.
Hospital Administrator Shahidullah Lincoln said that the number of diarrhoea cases was increasing due to the rising temperature. “Although it is mainly a water-borne disease, people are getting diarrhoea due to eating different types of street food in this weather,” he added.
According to data from icddr,b, a total of 8,437 patients were admitted to the specialized hospital for diarrhoea treatment between March 21 and Sunday, which amounts to an average of 1,200 patients admitted each day.
The highest 1,272 patients were admitted on March 23.
Dr Baharul Alam, head of hospitals at icddr,b, said that the acute outbreak might continue for at least another week.
Diarrhoea outbreaks are common in Bangladesh on either side of the monsoon season, but they rarely occur this early in the year, he added.
“The summer period is usually when pathogens breed. We need to research why there has been a change in the arrival time,” Dr Baharul Alam further said.
Diarrhoea patients at icddr,b are currently being treated at the main hospital building as well as at two makeshift field hospitals. According to Dr Baharul, as many as 600 patients are undergoing treatment at the facilities at any one time.
The patients are mostly from Dhaka city, especially from the Jatrabari, Shanir Akhra, and Kadamtali areas.
Our Rajshahi Correspondent Dulal Abdullah contributed to this report.
