The mass food poisoning outbreak involving an Indian rojak stall at the Geylang Serai temporary market has claimed 2 dealths, 154 casualties, 48 hospitalized and 122 rats.
What exactly causes diarrhoea and how to prevent it?
What to do immediately if you suspect you get it?
When someone gets diarrhoea, sometimes the solution is so easy, we wonder why anyone has to suffer. Here's an remedy used by older folks in those days where medication is not readily availiable.
The secret is in rice water.
This is already known in this region. Ask your maids -- Sri Lankan, Indonesian, Filipina and they would know about it. My Malaysian relatives know about it. (My mother) knew about it.
When Dr Albert Winsemius came to Singapore for a farewell and thank you dinner in his honour, he brought along his wife Aly and his granddaughter, Jolijn. Both women came down with very bad gastroenteritis. They saw the doctor who gave them medication. It was slow to work. Mother boiled some rice in lots of water and went to their hotel with two 1.5L bottles of rice water. I cringed in shame at the offer of this folk remedy, which seemed so primitive to me. Never heard of this cure before.
To my surprise, it worked, and they were even able to go out for dinner the next day. Both were exclaiming how the rice water did the trick of making them well again. Well, lucky it worked, I thought to myself. I was discussing this some years back with Kim Ng, the ex-matron of KK Hospital. She said, yes, that is what Professor Wong Hock Boon, the notable paediatrician teaches. I was shocked and made some comment how could he? It was common knowledge so what had he to do with it?
Many months later, I regretted laughing at it. Dr Christina Shanta Emmanuel, who is the CEO of...uh, which group I have forgotten, either National Health Group, or Polyclinics, or whatever.. regarded me seriously when I brought up the topic like it was good fun. She said that Prof Wong Hock Boon had presented a paper on it at some conference after he had done clinical trials. Then his results were published in the Lancet, the Medical Journal all doctors read. In fact, said Shanta, he was credited for saving the lives of 2 million African babies by this method. I am impressed.
It is rice water and not rice, that does the trick. I have found it effective again and again. You take a handful of rice and boil it in a large saucepan with lots of water. Like three or four large glasses. Then you cool that and drink the water. If you are in a hurry to relievethe ailing person, take the saucepan off the fire and dunk it in a frying pan or basin of cool water with ice cubes if necessary. This gives the patient a chance to drink the rice water sooner and cure himself or herself sooner. When drinking the rice water, make sure there is lots of it.
You have to tell the patient that enough water must go in to line your guts from throat to other end, all 10 to 12 metr es of it. If you take rice, it stays in the stomach. If you take broth, some of it may go into the small intestine. But if you take rice water, it will carry rice grains to every inch of your small and large intestine to the end where the problem is. How does it work? Even Prof Wong Hock Boon doesn't know. Read the attached file. Or go to (*http://rehydrate.org/dd/dd06.htm#page2*)
It is good to pass on the news to everyone you know because the complaint is so common and people suffer unnecessarily. You would be doing your friends a great favour to relieve them of their misery when the occasion arises.
So much for old folks remedy. Here are the facts on diarrhoea:
A person's life is in danger if there are several watery stools within an hour or if there is blood in the faeces. Immediate help from a trained health worker is needed.
Person suspected of having diarrhoea with the following symptoms should immediately seek help from a trained health worker:
. passes several watery stools in one or two hours
· passes blood in the faeces
· vomits frequently
· has a fever
· is extremely thirsty
· does not want to drink
· refuses to eat
· has sunken eyes
· looks weak or is lethargic
· has had diarrhoea for more than one week.
If the patient has any of these signs, help from a trained health worker is needed urgently. In the meantime, the patient should be given ORS solution or other liquids. If the patient passes several watery stools in one or two hours and vomits, there is cause for alarm – these are possible signs of cholera. Cholera can kill its victims in a matter of hours. Seek medical help immediately.
Cholera can spread throughout the community quickly through contaminated water or food. Cholera usually occurs in situations where there is poor sanitation and overcrowding. There are four steps to be taken to limit the spread of cholera or diarrhoea:
1. Dispose of all faeces in a latrine or toilet or bury them
2. Wash hands with soap or ash and water after contact with faeces
3. Use safe drinking water. Wash, peel or cook all foods
One of the effective supplement I used to take whenever I suspect of getting diarrhoea is Garlic. Here's some research articles on Garlic:
However, not all brands of garlic are effective but I am taking one particular brand which contains huge amount of Allisure's Allicin:
So remember to carry a bottle along and pop two or three capsules of Alligin whenever you suspect of having taken or going to take unclean food.
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