Diarrhoea spreads fast in Bangladesh

The diarrhoea disease, which started one month earlier than the usual late March this year, is spreading fast in Bangladesh, local newspaper The Independent reported on Monday.

The total number of diarrhoea patients in government hospitals in about 15 out of all 64 districts reached 33,849 so far, the report quoting health directorate sources said.

Experts attributed the sudden rise of diarrhoea attacks to the rise in temperature that stimulates growth of micro-organisms, the newspaper said.

They said scarcity of clean water and quick decaying of prepared food are among other factors behind the rise in diarrhoea attacks.

At the country's main diarrhoea hospital International Center for Diarrhoeal Disease and Research Bangladesh (ICDDR, B) in capital Dhaka, there was an unusual increase in the number of diarrhoea patients during the last couple of weeks.

The hospital is grappling with an influx of diarrhoea patients three times the number it had this time last year, professor Shahadat Hossain of the ICDDR, B told the newspaper.

Over 700 new patients show up every day and the hospital are struggling to accommodate them. Temporary tents have been set up on the hospital premises.

Shahadat predicted that the number of diarrhoeal patients in the coming few weeks would substantially rise as the temperature rises.