Zinc can control diarrhoea outbreak

Times of India, Sept 3, 2009

Think about Kalahandi and most probably you will remember the vignettes of emaciated figures made famous by media photographers and artists.

This time, the district is back into limelight with another disastrous outbreak. There is an outbreak of diarrhea in several villages in the Kalahandi district in Orissa, claiming 26 lives. The district often highlighted in the media because of hunger and starvation deaths had two years ago witnessed a cholera outbreak along with two other districts, where over 100 people died.
A team of doctors from the Federal National Institute of Communicable Diseases (NICD) has traveled to the affected villages and begun an investigation into the causes of the outbreak. Diarrhoea is usually a symptom of gastrointestinal infection, caused by a variety of bacterial, viral and parasitic organisms. Infections usually spread through contaminated food or drinking water or from person to person due to poor hygiene.

Notwithstanding medical progress, diarrhoea and the resulting dehydration are still responsible for about two million child deaths every year across the world. Most cases occur in developing, resource-poor countries where children suffer from malnutrition and access to clean water, safe sanitation and health facilities are limited.

Meanwhile in a study published in the British Medical Journal, it is found that zinc supplementation during diarrhoea reduces illness and death from the disease in Bangladeshi children. Researchers examined the impact of combining zinc therapy with an oral rehydration solution (ORS) in a study of more than 8,000 children who had diarrhoea. They found the combination significantly cut rates of death, illness and hospitalisation among the children. It also led to a reduction in the usage of antibiotics.

The World Health Organisation (WHO) also reviewed the findings and ratified the efficacy of zinc supplements in reducing the severity and duration of diarrhoea.