Making a statement on the subject, Trabzon Provincial Health Director Hakan Usta said that the number of cases remained in the same range as the average in the same period of the previous year. Usta said, “The weekly average in the summer of 2023 is 408.43; the weekly case average in 2024 is 393.57. Acute intestinal infections are inflammation of the stomach and intestines. Diarrhea is the main symptom in this disease, and diarrhea can be accompanied by nausea, vomiting, fever and abdominal pain.”
Usta, who noted that many diseases would be inevitable if access to safe drinking and utility water was not provided, said, “Diseases occur by eating food contaminated with feces containing the disease agent, by drinking water or other beverages, by putting dirty hands that have come into contact with the agent into the mouth. In a region where access to safe drinking and utility water is not provided, drinking water, cooking, and using this water for cleaning purposes increase the likelihood of diarrheal diseases. In cases where personal hygiene conditions are low, the disease can also be transmitted from person to person. Another way of spread is by consuming food prepared or stored in unhygienic conditions. Fish and seafood caught in polluted waters can also be a source of acute intestinal infections.”
NUMERASY, VOMITING AND DIARRHEA CASES ARE MONITORED DAILY
Usta, who stated that nausea, vomiting and diarrhea cases are being monitored daily, said, “In order for our people to have access to healthy water in our province, our Health Directorate and Trabzon Metropolitan Municipality TİSKİ General Directorate teams carry out daily chlorine measurements from the focal points determined from the distribution network of all water tanks distributing drinking water to our province, and microbiological and chemical water analyses at certain intervals. Within the scope of Syndromic surveillance studies by our Directorate’s Infectious Diseases Unit, the number of nausea, vomiting and diarrhea cases discharged by our health institutions are being monitored daily.
The distribution of cases by neighborhood, age distribution, etc. and parameters such as clustering are being examined. When the diarrhea cases detected in our province in the summer months are examined, the most important reasons that stand out are ‘use of small independent water sources that are not connected to the TİSKİ network line, that are not regularly cleaned, and that are not chlorinated. Entering the sea (entering the stream) in places that are not designated as swimming areas and whose water is infected. Sudden changes in usual eating habits (tourist diarrhea), and especially not storing meals prepared for mass catering in a suitable environment’, he said. (İHA)
