Typhoid, seasonal fever on the rise in Ranchi

RANCHI: Of the 100-110 cases registered in the outdoor department of Sadar Hospital every day, about 70% of them are seasonal diseases, including common cold, cough and fever and typhoid.
Sadar Hospital doctor V K Singh said, "Around 100 patients come to outdoor department every day. Of them, 60 to 70% complain of fever, influenza, cough, cold or dysentery and other seasonal ailments.In most of the cases, we suggest widal test to confirm typhoid."
Singh said 10% to 15% of the patients report positive for typhoid.
Even doctors at private clinics are attending to patients with similar symptoms everyday. R Prasad, a general physician said, "Almost all cases these days are in some way related to seasonal fever. I get around 30-40 such cases everyday."
VK Singh said these diseases are common every year and maintaining personal hygiene and drinking clean water are two precautionary measures that need to be adopted by each one of us.
"All these diseases are water-borne and one has to always be careful about what one consumes. Boiling water before drinking or adding chlorine tablets to water can help prevent these diseases."
Singh also said eating roadside food should be avoided during monsoons.
In most cases, people suffering from typhoid confessed to have eaten food prepared at small dhabas or roadside pushcarts. Shreyansh Singh, a student suffering from typhoid, said: "As I live in a private lodge in the city, I have no other option but to eat food outside. When I was detected with typhoid, doctors told me unhygienic outside food was the reason behind it."
Singh also informed that at times a person suffering from typhoid can become a carrier of the disease. Friends and family members should use separate toilets to avoid infection, he said.