Outbreak of hepatitis A infection in Darma, more than 4 thousand infected

Due to the outbreak of hepatitis A, which was seen only in children a month ago, most of the infected have problems with symptoms of jaundice. According to the doctor, due to the infection of hepatitis A virus, the liver of the person starts to swell, due to which the infected person has fever, nausea, diarrhea and other problems. Due to the spread of infection in the village, the condition of more than a dozen is critical. The seriously infected have been forced to go to well-equipped hospitals outside the district for further treatment.

Yagya Bahadur Basnet, Head of Health Branch of Darma Rural Municipality, said that the outbreak of Hepatitis A was due to consumption of polluted water in Darma. According to him, the infection that was seen only in 400 people two weeks ago has now spread to more than 4000. He also informed that after the infection started to take the form of an outbreak, a technical team was called from the Provincial Public Health Laboratory, Surkhet and the camp was conducted and lab tests were conducted. "The treatment of hepatitis A is to consume plenty of soft foods and eat healthy foods rather than taking medicine." "The problem is getting complicated because of not drinking plenty of water and eating hot food because of being sick," he said.

According to him, after it spread as a disaster, now the municipality has been going to schools to spread awareness among children about cleanliness and drinking clean water. He said that before 10:00 a.m., a team of health workers went to the school to teach them how to wash their hands, and everyone was asked to drink only boiled clean water.

After the infection started appearing in three/four people in every house, the whole township is now panicked. 36-year-old Leela Khatri of Darma Rural Municipality 2 said that at first, the youngest son of the house had symptoms of jaundice and now almost everyone in the house has the same problem. Yellow toenails of children due to symptoms including jaundice, She informed that she refused to eat and was losing weight. She also said that she is worried about the increased risk of infection due to communicable diseases.

In Darma, after the earthquake that hit Ramidanda in Jajarkot on the night of 17th October, the children, senior citizens, and pregnant women of the municipality who were temporarily living in Tahara and Tripal have been afflicted with various types of communicable diseases.

Health worker Yagya Bahadur Khadka said that 15/20 patients come for treatment at Community Health Unit Center Dhakadam every day, and most of them have symptoms of jaundice. He informed that everyone who came for health check-up was advised to go to a well-equipped hospital for further treatment. He also said that there is a risk of death of the patient if he does not pay attention to the diet.

Darma Rural Municipality Chairman Neem Bahadur KC said that in order to prevent the infection from becoming a disaster, efforts are being made to spread awareness in schools and villages. He said that children who have symptoms of jaundice have fever, diarrhea, vomiting, do not want to eat, and are losing weight, so he asked the residents to pay special attention to food. He said that although no one has died due to the disaster, the municipality is spreading awareness about the treatment of the disease, conducting camp tests and providing common medicines.