Winter brings illness in Chiang Mai’s hills

CHIANG MAI: -- Winter cold has caused more than 1,000 pneumonia cases in Chiang Mai’s mountainous Omkoi district, a local doctor said yesterday.

As the temperature continues to drop, many impoverished locals are increasingly suffering from exposure to chilly winds. Omkoi Hospital has already treated 1,110 pneumonia patients, compared to 894 last year, said Dr Prachin Laothieng.

As villagers live at high altitudes with cooler weather all year round, many need to be hospitalised for cold-related illness, he said, adding that their number increases dramatically in the coolest months of December and January.

Young children with an underdeveloped immune system are especially prone to pneumonia, while many elderly villagers suffer from chronic obstructive pulmonary disease from years of inhaling smoke at the communal fire, Prachin said.

The hospital’s three doctors and 18 nurses are understaffed to treat the some 200 patients a day, the doctor stressed.

He added that last year a young patient had died of pneumonia while being transferred on a gruelling, three-hour journey to a better-equipped hospital in Muang district.

Omkoi district chief Weeradech Somwan said 95 per cent of villagers in six tambons were hilltribe people too poor to afford proper winter clothing. He said 30,000 blankets and winter coats were needed to distribute to them.

The temperature on mountaintops is currently around 13-15 degrees Celsius and is expected to drop further.

Meanwhile officials at the Ban Wiangping orphanage for children of six years old and below said they were badly in need of winter clothes. Many of the 540 charges are developing colds due to lack of warm clothing, home official Manita Tuladilok said.

Provincial social-development and human-security official Mongkol Danwilaipitikul said his office would try its best to provide the orphanage with the necessary clothing.

Meanwhile officials in Buri Ram said that some 6,000 migratory birds, some from as far away as Siberia, had already arrived in the Northeastern province to winter at its many reservoirs, where they were expected to stay until February.

--The Nation 2005-12-03

Winter brings illness in Chiang Mai’s hills

.

.

.

Meanwhile officials in Buri Ram said that some 6,000 migratory birds, some from as far away as Siberia, had already arrived in the Northeastern province to winter at its many reservoirs, where they were expected to stay until February.

--The Nation 2005-12-03

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

So what? If it's indirectly referring to Bird Flu shouldn't we expect a little more elaboration?

G