The Deadly Bacteria
It appears from the revelation of experts that there is hardly anybody left in Bangladesh who is safe from a particular type of abdominal disease that can lead to many other severe ailments, according to a report in this paper yesterday. If 90 per cent of adults and 80 per cent of children under five years of age are infected with this bacteria then the state of the health of our nation can easily be understood. The bacteria known as Helicobacter Pylori in medical parlance which is responsible for peptic ulcer generally is so powerful that experts warn of dire consequences of recurrent peptic ulcer leading to cancer of the stomach. This is alarming news, especially for a country like ours where even primary medicare does not reach a vast majority, not to speak of specialised treatment for deadly diseases.
The Swiss expert to the seminar titled 'Management of Peptic Ulcer - What is New?' Prof Niklaus Gyr disclosed that as many as 15 million people in Bangladesh have been suffering from peptic ulcer and related diseases. The experts also claimed that 60 per cent of the world population are infected with the bacteria that affects people from childhood. This is thoroughly depressing as Prof Mahmud Hasan, General Secretary of Bangladesh Gastro-enterology Society, has pointed out that 'the organism will persist lifelong unless eradicated'. The silver-lining in the cloud is the suggestion of remedial measures and diagnostic process by Prof Hasan. All the same we will impress upon the government the need to launch a massive awareness campaign to prevent this common but deadly disease. In this important task we would appreciate the active participation of concerned NGOs and also BGS. After all, there is hardly any substitute to a healthy nation.
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