. 24/7 Space News .
Bangladesh struggles with disease after South Asia floods

by Staff Writers
Dhaka (AFP) Aug 14, 2007
Bangladesh was struggling to cope Tuesday with a major outbreak of disease as officials said some 100,000 people had been admitted to hospital in August after the worst South Asian flooding in decades.

The victims were suffering from diarrhoea and other water-borne diseases, the health department said, with clean water in short supply.

At least 100,000 people had been admitted to hospital, stretching the impoverished country's medical facilities, the department added, but stopped short of calling the situation an epidemic.

"Fifty-three thousand have been affected with diarrhoea. It's not an epidemic but the situation is very serious," said health department chief Shahjahan Biswas, adding that some people had been treated and released.

On Tuesday alone more than 4,000 patients were admitted to hospitals across Bangladesh with diarrhoea, Biswas said.

"We have never seen such a huge number of patients before," said Pradip Bardhan, a doctor at Dhaka's International Centre for Diarrhoeal Disease Research.

"We are struggling to cope with the huge number of patients who are coming every hour," he added.

More than 900 patients were admitted to the diarrhoea centre Tuesday, four times the number the hospital usually treats on a given day, he said.

Officials counted 40 more monsoon-related deaths Tuesday, bringing the toll in Bangladesh since the start of the rains in June to 481.

More than 10 million people remained stranded by the floods in the delta nation, even as some families began to return home.

The monsoon and flooding has killed around 2,300 across South Asia this year. But health experts worry that widespread infectious disease, caused by dirty water, could take more lives.

Officials in the Indian state of Bihar, where flooding affected many millions of people, said medical teams had fanned out to check for disease and provide vaccines to children.

"Fifty doctors' teams are moving out from the health department with logistical support from UNICEF," state relief coordinator Manoj Kumar Srivastava said Tuesday, referring to the UN's agency for children.

He said there were no reports of an epidemic of disease in the state, where flood water partially or totally submerged the homes and farmland of 15 million people.

Thousands were returning home in Bihar, but Srivastava said massive downpours Monday led to new flooding in central and southern areas of the state, leading to new evacuations.

Some previously flooded areas remained cut off, he added, with helicopters and boats still delivering relief supplies.

Heavy rains also hit new parts of India, including the hilly northern state of Himachal Pradesh, causing flooding and landslides.

Some 30 people have died in the state since the weekend, officials told AFP, bringing the toll across India to at least 1,800.

Landslides Monday cut off a rail link in Himachal Pradesh and several key roads.

In Nepal, 105 people have died and 300,000 have been hit by the floods. Officials there said the first priority was to prevent a disease outbreak and feed flood victims.

Community
Email This Article
Comment On This Article

Related Links
Epidemics on Earth - Bird Flu, HIV/AIDS, Ebola



Memory Foam Mattress Review
Newsletters :: SpaceDaily :: SpaceWar :: TerraDaily :: Energy Daily
XML Feeds :: Space News :: Earth News :: War News :: Solar Energy News


Scientists pinpoint what makes West Nile deadly
Paris (AFP) Aug 12, 2007
Even as health officials warn against a West Nile epidemic in the United States this summer, scientists have pinpointed what makes the disease -- unknown in North America a decade ago -- so deadly, according to a study released Sunday.







  • Undersea Mission Aids Development Of Self-Test For Stress And Fatigue
  • NASA Seeks Launch Logistics Help
  • Historic Phoenix Mars Mission Flies Actel RTAX-S Devices
  • Spaceport America Design Team Selected

  • What Makes Mars Magnetic
  • Phoenix Adjusts Course Successfully For Journey To Mars
  • Helping Phoenix Land
  • Brighter Skies Lifts Rover Spirit As MER-A Gets Active

  • Russian Proton-M Rocket To Launch Japanese Telecoms Satellite
  • ILS to Launch Inmarsat Satellite On Proton Vehicle Next Spring
  • European Automated Space Truck Arrive At South American Spaceport
  • A Double Transfer At The Spaceport For The Next Two Ariane 5 Launchers

  • Radar reveals vast medieval Cambodian city: study
  • Satellite Tracking Will Help Answer Questions About Penguin Travels
  • NASA Helps Texas Respond To Most Widespread Flooding In 50 Years
  • Thailand To Launch Environment Satellite In November

  • Outbound To The Outerplanets At 7 AU
  • Charon: An Ice Machine In The Ultimate Deep Freeze
  • New Horizons Slips Into Electronic Slumber
  • Nap Before You Sleep For Your Cruise Into The Abyss Of Outer Sol

  • New Clues To Early Sol
  • HESS J1616-508 Likely Powered by Young Pulsar PSR J1617-5055
  • Spitzer Spies Monster Galaxy Pileup
  • Star Caught Smoking Stellar Trash

  • China plans to survey 'every inch' of moon
  • Seeing The Moon Anew
  • NASA Selects Astrophysics Projects For New Science On The Moon
  • Throttling Back To The Moon

  • Galileo To Support Global Search And Rescue
  • Car Satellite Navigation Systems Can Be Steered The Wrong Way
  • ShoZu One-Click Image Upload Service To Be Embedded In Samsung Handsets
  • Cell Phones And PDAs Revolutionize How Consumers Find Homes On REALTOR.com

  • The content herein, unless otherwise known to be public domain, are Copyright 1995-2007 - SpaceDaily.AFP and UPI Wire Stories are copyright Agence France-Presse and United Press International. ESA Portal Reports are copyright European Space Agency. All NASA sourced material is public domain. Additional copyrights may apply in whole or part to other bona fide parties. Advertising does not imply endorsement,agreement or approval of any opinions, statements or information provided by SpaceDaily on any Web page published or hosted by SpaceDaily. Privacy Statement