Representative image of a hospital ward.
Credit: iStock Photo
Itanagar: At least two children have died while 17 others were seriously ill due to diarrhoea in Arunachal Pradesh's Longding district, a medical officer said.
Two children in the age group of 5-7 years died in Konsa village near the Indo-Myanmar border due to outbreak of diarrhoea, the officer said.
Five-year-old Khunwang Wangsa died on June 15, while Sahwang Wangsa (7) died on June 18, Longding District Medical Officer (DMO) Dr Aza Miyu said.
Another 17 children were also affected by the disease with three of them admitted to the district hospital at Longding and currently undergoing treatment, he said.
Konsa village is around 50 km from Longding, the district headquarters.
"After receiving the information on June 18, we sent a medical team with adequate medicines and started treatment to control the disease," Dr Miyu said, adding that possible contamination of drinking water sources in the village might be the reason for the outbreak of the disease.
The disease is generally from a bacterial infection in drinking water, he said.
Miyu said that samples of water from the community tank from where the villagers drink water have been collected for examination and the PHE department would soon undertake a chlorination process in the village and its nearby areas.
"The health department is also initiating necessary steps to create awareness on diarrhoea and how to prevent its spread," the DMO said.