138,000 flood victims become ill
BANGKOK: -- ealth Ministry Sunday warned people to avoid walking through floodwater, which often host germs and leeches.
The warning came after more than 138,000 flood victims became ill and one of them was found with a leech in his anus.
"Please travel around by boats, if possible. If not, please dress carefully! Wear underpants and long pants. Also cover the lower part of your pants with plastic bags and tie tightly to ensure that no leech can climb in," the ministry's permanent secretary Dr Prat Boonyawongvirot said Sunday.
According to him, a man in Sing Buri was hospitalised after wading through chest-high floodwater. At the hospital, a doctor helped removing a leech from his anus.
"He's now safe. But we would like to warn children not to play in the floodwater," he said. He added that leeches could enter human bodies via nose, mouth, eyes, anus, vagina and urethra.
Aside from leeches, he said germs also dwelt in floodwater and could spread various diseases especially conjunctivitis, skin diseases and athlete's foot disease.
Prat said his ministry's mobile medical units had already treated 138,328 flood victims in flood-hit areas, which included Nonthaburi, Phisanulok, Sukhothai, Phichit, Nakhon Sawan, Angthong and Ayutthaya.
"We have also distributed medicines and garbage bags," he said. Currently, a large number of flood victims could not use toilets and need the garbage bags when nature called.
-- The Nation 2006-10-08Similar Threads:
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