STIDH, which conducted the tests for diarrheal patients admitted to the hospital, said that cholera might have been spreading, as the deadly disease has been confirmed in patients from different parts of the capital.
Dozens of patients from Kuleshwar, Kalimati and Balkhu areas have been infected with diarrheal diseases all at once, leading doctors to suspect a cholera outbreak. Some of the patients brought to hospital had been rushed there in a critical stage.
"Most of the cholera cases have been detected in patients from the Kuleshwar and Kalimati areas, and a patient from Thamel has also been found positive for cholera infection," Dr Sher Bahadur Pun of STIDH said. STIDH had sent the samples to the National Public Health Laboratory (NPHL) for further confirmation of the infection strain.
"We have confirmed the cholera and have sent the samples to NPHL for serogroup confirmation," Dr Pun said. He informed that the serotypes Ogawa and Inaba, which are associated with cholera, have been detected in patients admitted to the hospital in the last six days.
"The deadly disease is not limited to Kuleshwar and Kalimati area, we found a patient from Thamel also positive for cholera," added Dr Pun.
STIDH informed that patients from other parts of capital have also been visiting the hospital.
Over 40 diarrheal patients have been visiting STIDH every day. The hospital has also started a gastro unit targeting patients of diarrheal disease. All the beds at the gastro unit have been occupied by diarrheal patients and health workers have shifted many patients to other units in the hospital.
The Epidemiology and Disease Control Division (EDCD) of the Department of Health Services (DoHS) suspects that contaminated tanker water might be responsible for the spread of diarrheal infection.
A study carried out by several agencies under the Ministry of Health and Population (MoHP) and the Nepal Army Medical Crops following the April earthquake claims that populations in earthquake-hit districts including those in the Valley are vulnerable to various epidemics including diarrheal epidemics.
MoHP, which carried out the post-quake risk assessment in Kathmandu, Bhaktapur, Lalitpur, Gorkha, Dhading, Sindhupalchowk and Kavrepalanchowk districts from April 30 to May 24, found that 74 percent of water samples collected from the affected districts was unfit for drinking.
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