Monsoon blues grip Hyderabad: Diarrhoea preys on, residents exercise caution

HYDERABAD: Monsoon is here, and so are waterborne diseases such as diarrhoea. Over the past month, the few spells of heavy rain have given rise to these monsoon maladies, putting civic guardians on an overdrive to combat the army of bacteria, viruses and fungi. Even pathological labs in the city are swamped with blood test requests for various monsoon-related diseases.

Over the past month, the number of cases of acute diarrhoea in the city have risen with almost all big hospitals recording 5-10 acute cases per week.



“There has been a 30% rise in such cases over the last one month, alth ough patients have been coming in for almost two months now. We are mostly seeing cases in clusters — few people from the same locality being affected. Many of the patients coming to us are IT employees who frequent roadside food stalls,” said Dr Surendar Reddy Baradhi, gastroenterologist and therapeutic endoscopist, Maxcure hospitals.

Instances of acute diarrhoea affecting entire families, or few members of the same family are also being reported. “Usually acute diarrhoeal illness rises during the start of the rainy season. Polluted and contaminated water is the source of infection. With a spurt in number of flies during this time of the year, infections can easily spread,” added Dr Reddy.

There has also been a spurt in cases of irritable bowel syndrome. “Almost every person coming in with diarrhoeal infection has had a history of dining out in the days before the infection. While most of these cases turn out to be of bacterial infections, at least 20% of these cases are diagnosed as irritable bowel syndrome. Such patients have irritable bowel syndrome, but do not notice it until the infection becomes acute, which makes them think that it may be diarrhoea and that they need treatment,” said Dr Vijay Kumar Bada, gastroenterologist, KIMS Hospitals.

It’s difficult to treat such patients since they cannot be treated with antibiotics only and need extended treatment for six months to a year, apart from reduction in stress levels and lifestyle changes. Doctors, meanwhile, advise that all outside food, beverages, especially from road side stalls, should be completely avoided to stay away from bacterial infections.