Two more children tested positive at BBH

Rawalpindi: Another two child patients undergoing treatment here at Paediatrics Department of Benazir Bhutto Hospital in town have been tested positive for cholera by National Institute of Health, Islamabad on Friday taking total number of patients confirmed positive so far for the infection to four.

According to health experts, the confirmation of four child patients positive for cholera in last five days is alarming as the disease is considered as highly contagious and fatal. Earlier the NIH confirmed two patients positive for cholera on Monday this week.

All the four patients so far tested positive for the infection were admitted at the
BBH for treatment. Data collected by ‘The News’ on Friday reveals that infants and children are the worst affected by the water borne diseases and the cases sent to the NIH by the BBH for cholera test were in the age of three months, two-and-a-half month, five months, four-and-a-half month and 18 months.

The patients tested positive for cholera by the NIH on Friday include two-and-a-half month old Zeenat, a resident of Ashraf Colony Dhamial Camp and four-and-a-half month old Falak Rasheed, a resident of Khurram Colony Muslim Town while other patients of the infectious disease are from Dhoke Kashmirian and Dhoke Paracha.

The NIH has tested vibrio cholerae positive in stool samples of all the four patients admitted by the BBH for treatment in last one week however the NIH has tested another two child patients negative for cholera.

It is important that cholera has a much higher mortality rate as compared to gastroenteritis or diarrhoea and its spread is also much rapid. According to Associate Professor of Paediatrics at Rawalpindi Medical University Dr. Tariq Saeed, cholera can be termed as ten times more severe and serious in nature as compared to normal gastroenteritis or diarrhoea and is also termed as 10 times more life threatening as compared to normal cases of gastroenteritis.

Studies reveal that nearly 60 per cent of untreated patients die of the disease. Cholera is an acute infectious disease caused by the bacterium Vibrio cholera that lives and multiplies its colonies in the small intestine. Massive watery diarrhoea is the major symptom of the infectious disease that results in dehydration. Such dramatic water loss, if left untreated, causing severe dehydration leads to thickening of blood, circulatory collapse (shock) and death. Studies reveal that a good number of cholera victims die six hours after onset of symptoms if not treated in time.

  Health experts say that a patient of cholera should be taken to the nearest healthcare facility immediately after the first episode of heavy watery diarrhoea as the infection causes rapid loss of fluid and the water loss in the body can be fatal if not treated in time.