Disease watch in drought-hit areas

 

   

BANGKOK (NNT) - The Ministry of Public Health is now on alert for a possible outbreak of communicable diseases in drought-hit areas, where a supply of clean water may be lacking, assigning officials and volunteers to promote the practice of eating only cooked food, using serving spoons and washing hands, as well as advising villagers to seek medical assistance should they have diarrhea.

 

The Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Public Health Anutin Charnvirakul, said today in an interview that the government is caring for the general public in areas affected by the drought in the northern and northeastern regions, where the hot and dry conditions may cause outbreaks of communicable diseases involving the gastrointestinal tract, such as diarrhea and food poisoning.

 

The Ministry of Public Health (MOPH) has ordered the Department of Disease Control (DDC) to operate its Emergency Operations Center (EOC) to monitor the effects of the drought disaster on villagers’ health, and ordered provincial public health offices to be on alert for possible outbreaks, as well as assigning local officials and village public health volunteers to guide villagers on disease prevention practices, advising them to seek medical attention should they suffer prolonged diarrhea.

 

The DDC Director General Suwannachai Wattanayingcharoenchai, announced today that the department has instructed 12 disease prevention and control centers nationwide to be on alert and to cooperate with local public health offices in order to respond quickly to any outbreak of disease connected to the drought, by immediately conducting an investigation and implementing disease control protocols, as well as communicating to villagers in affected areas how to prevent contracting diseases communicated through eating and drinking, by eating only freshly cooked food, using serving spoons when sharing meals, and washing hands before and after meals, and especially after using toilets.

 

Persons with diarrhea should frequently sip water with Oral Rehydration Salts (ORS) to prevent dehydration, while persons with diarrhea whose condition does not improve in a timely manner, who face difficulty eating, have excessive thirst, or have blood in their stool, should seek immediate medical attention. More information regarding the diseases and preventive measures is available on the 1442 DDC hotline.

 

According to the Bureau of Epidemiology’s report, there have been, since early this year, 575,112 cases of diarrhea, 59,360 cases of food poisoning, 432 cases of dysentery, 9 cases of cholera, 560 cases of typhoid fever and 224 cases of hepatitis A.

 

-- © Copyright NNT 2019-07-30

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It would be helpful to know what areas are affected

Frightening statistics.