Afghanistan: Kabul witnesses spike in seasonal diseases

Kabul [Afghanistan], July 17 : Amid a surge in seasonal diseases in Afghanistan over the last three weeks, doctors urged citizens to take precautionary measures and prevent infections like cholera and diarrhea.
Mohammad Naeem Akbari, a physician at Infectious Diseases Hospital in Kabul, said that other seasonal diseases include cold, malaria and measles, TOLO News reported.
"In this season of the year, diarrhea cases have spiked. Around 1,000 to 1,500 people are brought to the (infectious diseases) hospital in Kabul and every doctor visits around 50 to 60 patients a day," doctor Abdulrahman Jawad said.
The doctors added that there is a surge in seasonal diseases because of warm weather and inattention to personal hygiene.
"People should not drink unclean water. They should wash vegetables and soak them in salty water for five minutes," advised Aliya, a physician.
Many children were taken for treatment at Kabul hospital by their parents after they were infected suddenly, local media reported.
"It has been a while since my son is sick. He has got cold," a local Zuhal said.
"My child is two years old. He had sore throat and stomach ache so I brought him to the hospital," another local Gul Mohra said.
Earlier, on Saturday, more than 600 people were found infected and around 15 people died in a recent cholera-like outbreak in Afghanistan.
Health officials said that this disease, which causes severe diarrhoea and nausea, has been spreading in the small villages of Dasht, Giro Joy, Tak, Shina, and other areas for the past week or so.
Local Taliban officials confirmed that around 590 people have been diagnosed with the disease in the province of Helmand's Baghran district. According to the Taliban's director of information and culture in Helmand, Hafiz Rashid Helmandi, 80 people contracted this disease on Wednesday.
Meanwhile, physicians in a hospital in Kabul said that more than 100 patients come to the hospital every day, and they added that lack of access to clean water and healthy food are among the reasons that this disease surged, Tolo News reported.
They said that the cases of diarrhoea have surged with the change in weather.
Cholera is a highly infectious disease caused by consuming food or drinking water having certain bacteria. It causes severe diarrhoea and vomiting, which causes dehydration and can lead to death within a few hours if left untreated.
Afghanistan is also grappling with a serious humanitarian crisis as according to international assessments, the country now has the highest number of people in emergency food insecurity in the world, with more than 23 million in need of assistance, and approximately 95 per cent of the population having insufficient food consumption.