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Diarrhoea cases up in Dhaka in first week of August

A man is provided ORS treatment at the International Centre for Diarrhoeal Disease Research in Dhaka. More than 100,000 people have come down with diarrhoea, as well as other water-borne diseases following this year's particularly harsh monsoon floods David Swanson/IRIN
    DHAKA

    Poor access to safe drinking water and higher temperatures have resulted in an upsurge in diarrhoea cases in the Bangladesh capital, Dhaka. “People are forced to drink from contaminated sources and this is a major cause for the increasing number of patients,” Azharul Islam Khan, a doctor at the International Centre for Diarrhoeal Disease Research, Bangladesh (ICDDR,B) , told IRIN.



    According to ICDDR,B, 3,396 cases were reported in the week ending 6 August - 50 percent more than in the same period last year.



    “Given rising temperatures, this number of cases will likely rise,” warned ASM Alamgir, chief scientific officer for the Institute of Epidemiology, Disease Control & Research.



    About 80 percent of all reported cases last week involved children, the ICDDR,B said. According to estimates by the World Health Organization, nearly 51,000 children die of diarrhoea each year in Bangladesh.



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    This article was produced by IRIN News while it was part of the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs. Please send queries on copyright or liability to the UN. For more information: https://shop.un.org/rights-permissions

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