Saturday, May 8, 2010

Impure water sickens 21 in Kratie district

Mom Kunthear

Phnom Penh Post

HEALTH officials treating 21 people for severe diarrhoea and vomiting in Kratie province’s Chet Borey district – where five people died of cholera in March – said Thursday that they thought unclean water was responsible for the new outbreak of illness.

District Governor Toun Ngork said the illness began spreading through the district on Wednesday, and that an investigation by local officials had proved that bad water was the cause.

“They went to their rice fields after the rain and they drank the water in the lake and puddle nearby without boiling it, and they didn’t think about their health,” he said, referring to the sick villagers. “Health officials and myself often educate them to be careful with hygiene and to drink boiled water, but they don’t listen to us. That’s why they still get diarrhoea.”

Chhneang Vutha, deputy director of the provincial hospital, concurred with this assessment.

“They have diarrhoea and vomiting because they don’t pay enough attention to hygiene; they drank uncooked water and bad food,” he said. “They are not cholera cases.”

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