Diarrhea blamed on late monsoon floods has killed one child and stricken hundreds of others in southwestern Bangladesh, relief officials report.
DHAKA, Bangladesh — Diarrhea blamed on late monsoon floods has killed one child and stricken hundreds of others in southwestern Bangladesh, relief officials report.
Floods have ravaged much of Bangladesh's southwest for the past two weeks, leaving at least 100,000 people stranded or homeless and destroying crops, roads and buildings, officials said on condition of anonymity.
An outbreak of diarrhea, caused by drinking polluted water, has emerged in the flood-hit districts of Satkhira, Jessore and Magura, they said.
One child died of diarrhea on Monday in Magura, 64 miles west of national capital Dhaka, said a health official, who also spoke on condition of anonymity.
Doctors, meanwhile, have treated another about 500 people, mostly children, for diarrhea in Magura and neighboring Jessore and Satkhira districts, the official said.
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Bangladesh, an impoverished delta nation of 140 million people, is still struggling to recover from massive floods in July and August.
Those floods — the worst in six years — covered half the country, killing at least 766 people and affecting more than 30 million, many of them left without homes and jobs.
The World Bank and the Asian Development Bank have estimated the damage at US$2.2 billion (euro 1.8 billion).
Source: Associated Press
