Outbreak of diarrhoea in Seoni district of MP, seven dead

Seven persons, including two women, have died following an outbreak of diarrhoea and nearly hundred have taken ill in 12 villages in the tribal-dominated Ghansour block of Seoni district in the last three days.
The sick, exhibiting symptoms like vomiting apart from diarrhoea, had been admitted to the community health centre, Ghansour, chief medical and health officer of the district Dr R K Shrivastava told PTI.
There was a sudden spurt in the complaints of diarrhoea since the evening of May 21, following heavy rains and the subsequent heat, and as the sick people were taken to the health centre, seven of them succumbed, the CHMO said.

Some of them died even before reaching the hospital, he said.
A team of doctors from Seoni District Hospital and adjoining areas had reached Ghansour and the situation was under control, Dr Shrivastava added.
The deceased were identified as Saroj Bai Jain (65), Ramesh (45), Monu (60), Trilok Gond, Girani Gond (both 65), Ittu Gond (53) and Munga Bai (60).

Seoni collector Dhanraju S who visited the hospital said that over 100 persons were undergoing treatment there. Decision about monetary relief for the affected people and kin of the deceased would be taken after completing necessary formalities, he added.
While an oral vaccine for rotavirus exists, the findings

highlight the need for prioritisation of Shigella and ETEC vaccines.
Lead author Eric R Houpt of University of Virginia in Charlottesville in the US said childhood diarrhoea remains an enormous problem made more confusing by the long list of possible infections, the difficulties in diagnosis and the large number of undiagnosed cases.
"We developed sensitive quantitative methods that levelled the diagnostic playing field and closed the diagnostic gap. Sadly, the 'healthy' control children carried on average four infections, so determining the cause of diarrhoea is tricky.
"We found that when an infection replicates and reaches a certain threshold, then diarrhoea happens. Our study was able to identify what that threshold is, pathogen by pathogen. In so doing, we concluded that six infections constitute the vast majority of disease, and these should be heavily prioritised.

"An oral vaccine for rotavirus exists, and development of vaccines for Shigella and ETEC are underway. Cryptosporidium, Campylobacter, and adenovirus now need a lot more attention," Houpt said.
The authors point to some limitations, including that the analysis may underestimate pathogens that are shed with high frequency, so longitudinal studies will be needed to further understand these pathogens.
Additionally, although the findings should provide evidence to prioritise vaccines for certain pathogens, vaccine development relies on subtyping of infections which was not provided in this study.
Finally, the authors warn that qPCR does not assess antimicrobial resistance, and therefore the technology should be used in conjunction with conventional culture methods to detect antibiotic resistant pathogens.

"These results imply that prioritising vaccine development for these six pathogens could lead to a substantial decrease in diarrhoea burden among children younger than five years over the next few decades, as has been seen for rotavirus," said Karen Keddy of Centre for Enteric Diseases, National Institute for Communicable Diseases, Johannesburg in South Africa and a co-author.