Epidemic fear hits South Asia in flood's wake

Epidemic fear hits South Asia in flood's wake

Anis Ahmed, Reuters, Dhaka

Fears of an epidemic stalked flood-hit regions of South Asia on
Saturday, with thousands of sick people flocking hospitals as
rivers receded.

Officials said nearly 7,000 people reported at hospitals with
diarrhea and other water-borne diseases on Friday in Bangladesh,
which has been worst hit by this year's monsoon flooding in the
subcontinent that has claimed about 1,300 in the last one month.

"Never before had I seen such devastation, especially in terms
of scarcity of drinking water and dry food," said Ferdousi Begum
in the capital Dhaka's Bashabo area, which is under filthy,
waist-deep water.

Residents said the water was filled with garbage, including
human excrement, dead poultry and rodents.

"I found it impossible to live there. So I fled the area with
my only son," Begum said.

Zamirul Haq, another Dhaka resident, said life had become a
constant struggle.

"The stink and filth have made breathing difficult," Haq told
Reuters. "Only Allah knows when he would relieve us from this."

Officials said the flood situation was likely to improve
across Bangladesh over the next one week before another spell of
heavy rain is forecast to lash the country.

Hospitals and temporary medical centers in flood-ravaged
districts said they had treated more than 100,000 patients over
the last three weeks, but most deaths due to diarrhea took place
in remote areas that remained cut off by road and rail.

Doctors at Dhaka's International Center for Diarrheal Disease
Research said they had treated about 10,000 patients in the past
week and an average 500 new patients were being admitted daily.

Most of the deaths in Bangladesh have been caused by snake
bites, disease, house collapses and drowning.