Be careful

The fact that over a dozen patients admitted in different hospitals of the capital city were tested positive for cholera in the past few days is a good enough reason for the people residing in the Kathmandu Valley to be extremely careful about what and where they eat and drink in the near future. Thankfully, doctors have confirmed that the disease has not yet reached epidemic proportions since the patients detected with cholera are not from the same locality. But that is no excuse for any of us to be lax as it can be a sure-fire recipe to be infected by the cholera bacteria.



Cholera is a simple disease and the treatment is simple. However, if untreated, it can be fatal. Moreover, given our sanitation and hygiene levels, it can spread quickly and that is when containing this simple disease starts becoming a Herculean task. That is exactly what happened in 2008 in some of the districts in the country’s far-west where the disease claimed hundreds of lives. What compounds the problem in developing countries like ours where the level of education is quite poor is the prevalence of certain myths such as the fact that one should not drink water when inflicted with the disease.



The belief is that supplying the body with more liquid will lead to further discharge of the fluids. Coming to the capital city, there cannot be a more fertile ground for the disease to spread. The city is populated and dirty and sewage and drinking water pipes run concurrently at many different places, sometimes one mixing with the other. Therefore, it is crucial that the problem is addressed at the bud.



While the government has a job at hand to do by detecting cholera patients and treating them immediately, and simultaneously alerting the people about the disease and the available cure if infected, the primary responsibility of containing the spread of the disease is with the residents of the city. And each of us just has to do a small bit. First, we must make sure to refrain from eating contaminated food and water.



Two, we must encourage anyone near us suffering from diarrhea and vomiting, the first symptoms of cholera, to immediately see a physician. Not doing so can prove costly. Let’s not forget that as recently as last year, 5,500 people lost their lives in Haiti where cholera spread from a small town in the country and then became an epidemic.

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