After recent spell of rain, diarrhoea cases among kids on the rise

Although Health Department officials said there is no outbreak, there has, however, been a considerable rise in fever, cold and diarrhoea cases after the rains.

The number of cases of diarrhoea, in particular, have doubled in past fortnight after the rains. “We used to see around 3-4 cases of diarrhoea in a day, but now at least 10 cases appear daily. A majority of the patients are among children below 5 years as they have low immunity. The consumption of contaminated water or food is mostly responsible for diarrhoea,” says Dr Kalpana Bharani Kumar, a neonatologist and paediatrician consultant at Motherhood Hospitals.

Medicos say that rains offer a suitable temperature for the growth of the virus and due to its highly contagious nature, the infection spreads easily. 

Dr Mohan Kumar, a paediatrician with Institute of Child Health, said, “The cases have increased manifold and most of the cases are children less than 10 years. Diarrhoea is accompanied by fever and cold in most of the children, throat pain and cough also develop as primary symptoms. But, the children are being treated symptomatically and there is no major situation to panic.

As per the data by the Integrated Disease Surveillance Programme of National Centre for Disease Control (NCDC), other districts including Tiruvallur, The Nilgiris and Coimbatore also reported large number of cases of diarrhoeal diseases in children.

State Health officials, however, deny outbreak in Chennai and said that the situation is in control. “The increase in the number of diarrhoea cases occurs usually after rains every year and the situation is in control. There is no need to panic and children are recovering well,” said Dr K Kolandaisamy, director of public health.