Two people died of diarrhoea and more than 560 others contacted the disease after drinking ‘contaminated’ supply water in Narayanganj in six days.
The Institute of Epidemiology, Disease Control and Research will send a five-member team to the spot today to collect samples and examine the situation, the institute director, Mahmudur Rahman, told New Age on Saturday.
‘The civil surgeon of Narayanganj has already informed us that two patients died of diarrhoea after drinking contaminated water,’ he said.
Mahmudur said that they would advise appropriate antibiotic for the patients after tests.
The New Age correspondent in Narayanganj reported that the patients were being treated in Narayanganj General Hospital, Bandar Health Complex and a temporary health camp set up after the outbreak, the civil surgeon, Dulal Chandra Chowdhury, said.
He said that 560 patients had fallen sick and 151 of them needed to be admitted to hospital. ‘Eight patients are now admitted to two hospitals.’
He said the patients had died on their way to Dhaka as their families were sending them directly to Dhaka without any primary treatment in Narayanganj. The deceased were Mohammad Ali, 74, and Ramjan Ali, 64.
Diarrhea broke out at Lakshmankhola and in Bandar area under Ward 27 of the city corporation ‘from water supplied by the Dhaka Water Supply and Sewerage Authority.’
Dhaka WASA’s managing director Taksim A Khan declined comments.
A high WASA official said that there were many illegal connections in the area using plastic pipes. ‘There are holes in these plastic pipe for which the supply water gets contaminated easily.’
WASA has already cleaned the supply line, Dulal said. ‘We advised people not to drink water without boiling.’
-With New Age input
