Five persons including four women and a child have died of diarrhoea while 57 are suffering from it in Saharsa district, an official said today.
Saharsa District Magistrate (DM) Shahsi Bhushan Kumar told PTI that Jhara panchayat in Mahisi block of the district has been affected and a team of doctors has been dispatched there to take care of the ill people.
"The Civil Surgeon (CS) is looking after the matter. We are waiting for the report of the team of doctors and will be able to say about the casualties only after seeing it. I still don't know what disease it actually is," said the DM.
However, confirming that the disease indeed was diarrhoea, Saharsa CS Bhola Nath Jha said, "The medical team that went to the affected area has detected severe spread of diarrhoea. The disease broke out two to three days ago. The doctors in the team today treated 57 persons affected by the disease. The team will remain stationed there."
Jha said there is information about five deaths in the affected area over the last couple of days. "The villagers are saying that all of them died of diarrhoea, but we would not be able to say much on the deaths because the bodies have been cremated," he added.
The CS also said that the medical team has provided medicines, water purification tablets, Oral Re-hydration Solution (ORS) and sprayed bleaching powder where needed.
