Doctors in the capital said on Wednesday it was too early for any sign of epidemic outbreak due to Saturday’s earthquake, which has devastated parts of Nepal, with the death toll crossing 5000. More than 7,000 are injured.
“We are extra cautious about any outbreak and keeping tab on hospitals to see if there’s any increase in, say, diarrhoea cases,” Baburam Marasini, Director of Epidemiology and Disease Control Division told The Hindu . “But we should also keep in mind that there is increase in such cases when it rains.”
Dr. Marasini said chlorination of water in the Kathmandu Valley is the key between safety and a major health hazard. When asked about the lack of chlorination outside the capital, the doctor said with fewer people living in villages, there was no cause for alarm. If water sources are contaminated due to rains and landslides, that might change the situation, though, he added.
“But we are confident of bringing any situation under control between 24 and 48 hours,” Dr. Marasini said.
He also blamed Nepal’s media for trying to “sensationalise” the issue of epidemic outbreak due to the earthquake.
However, Dr. Sher Bahadur Pun, Clinical Research Unit Coordinator at the Shukraraj Tropical and Infectious Disease Hospital at Teku in the capital termed the situation “alarming given the history of quake-hit areas in other parts of the world.”
“Incubation period for diseases varies and it may be weeks before we realise we have an epidemic outbreak,” Dr. Pun told The Hindu . He cited the example of recent diarrhoea and swine flu outbreak in Jajarkot district where hundreds have been infected and over 30 people dead.
Dr. Pun also said a person staying in one of the tents at Tundikhel, the open space in central Kathmandu “has been admitted at the hospital with diarrhoea complaint… This should be wake-up call.”
When asked whether the hospital was prepared to deal with any outbreak, the medical officer said they were prepared to “some extent but we do not have the capacity to treat a large number of patients since there is staff and space crunch at the hospital.”
Locals reports have been citing examples of diarrhoea cases and linking them to the earthquake.
