Diarrhoea outbreak among quake survivors

Several hundred cases of acute diarrhoea have been recorded among earthquake survivors at a makeshift tent camp in Pakistan’s portion of Kashmir, a World Health Organisation official said today.

There was no immediate evidence of a cholera outbreak but the cases are “pretty serious,” said Khalid Shibib, the WHO team leader in the Pakistani Kashmir hub of Muzaffarabad.

“WHO and other agencies and the (Pakistani) Ministry of Health are taking all preventative measures.”

Several hundred quake survivors have come down with acute diarrhoea at a tent village that sprang up spontaneously near a demolished university campus in Muzaffarabad, he said.

The camp lacks proper sanitation, and international aid agencies were planning to dig latrines and bring in water on trucks for the camp residents on Wednesday.

Diarrhoea can be caused by many forms of bacteria or viruses. It also can indicate serious illnesses such as cholera, which can cause rapid loss of bodily fluids, leading to dehydration and shock, and without treatment, death within hours.

Cholera is generally spread in contaminated water supplies.