Diarrhoea Outbreak Claims Two Children In Arunachal Village

Itanagar: At least two children have died while 17 others were seriously ill due to diarrhoea in Arunachal Pradesh’s Longding district, a medical officer said. Two children in the age group of 5-7 years died in Konsa village near the Indo-Myanmar border due to outbreak of diarrhoea, the officer said. Five-year-old Khunwang Wangsa died on June 15 while Sahwang Wangsa (7) died on June 18, Longding District Medical Officer (DMO) Dr Aza Miyu said. He added,

Another 17 children were also affected by the disease with three of them admitted to the district hospital at Longding and currently undergoing treatment.

Also Read: Himachal Pradesh: Diarrhoea Spreads To 12 Villages Of Hamirpur, Over 200 Affected

Konsa village is around 50 km from Longding, the district headquarters. Adding that possible contamination of drinking water sources in the village might be the reason for the outbreak of the disease, Dr Miyu said,

After receiving the information on June 18, we sent a medical team with adequate medicines and started treatment to control the disease.

The disease is generally from a bacterial infection in drinking water, he said.

Miyu said that samples of water from the community tank from where the villagers drink water have been collected for examination and the PHE department would soon undertake a chlorination process in the village and its nearby areas. The DMO said,

The health department is also initiating necessary steps to create awareness on diarrhoea and how to prevent its spread.

Also Read: Climate Change And Increase In Diarrhoeal Disease – What’s The Connection?

(This story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)

NDTV – Dettol have been working towards a clean and healthy India since 2014 via the Banega Swachh India initiative, which in its Season 10 is helmed by Campaign Ambassador Ayushmann Khurrana. The campaign aims to highlight the inter-dependency of humans and the environment, and of humans on one another with the focus on One Health, One Planet, One Future – Leaving No One Behind. It stresses on the need to take care of, and consider, everyone’s health in India – especially vulnerable communities – the LGBTQ population, indigenous people, India’s different tribes, ethnic and linguistic minorities, people with disabilities, migrants, geographically remote populations, gender and sexual minorities. In a world post COVID-19 pandemic, the need for WASH (Water, Sanitation and Hygiene) is reaffirmed as handwashing is one of the ways to prevent Coronavirus infection and other diseases. The campaign will continue to raise awareness on the same along with focussing on the importance of nutrition and healthcare for women and children, fight malnutrition, mental well-being, self-care, science and health, adolescent health & gender awareness. Along with the health of people, the campaign has realised the need to also take care of the health of the eco-system. Our environment is fragile due to human activity, which is not only over-exploiting available resources, but also generating immense pollution as a result of using and extracting those resources. The imbalance has also led to immense biodiversity loss that has caused one of the biggest threats to human survival – climate change. It has now been described as a “code red for humanity.” The campaign will continue to cover issues like air pollution, waste management, plastic ban, manual scavenging and sanitation workers and menstrual hygiene. Banega Swasth India will also be taking forward the dream of Swasth Bharat, the campaign feels that only a Swachh or clean India where toilets are used and open defecation free (ODF) status achieved as part of the Swachh Bharat Abhiyan launched by Prime Minister Narendra Modi in 2014, can eradicate diseases like diahorrea and the country can become a Swasth or healthy India.