Muhammad Razzaq Malik, Ali Hussain, Muhammad Zafar Iqbal, Muhammad Irfan, Bismillah Sehar.
Flood devastated the barriers of epidemics at district Rahim Yar Khan.
J Sheikh Zayed Med Coll Jan ;1(4):129-33.

Back ground: Natural disasters are catastrophic events with atmospheric, geologic, and hydrologic origins. Disasters include earthquakes, volcanic eruptions, landslides, tsunamis, floods and drought. Pakistan faced floods in 2010 that began following heavy monsoon rains in the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Sindh, Punjab and Balochistan regions of Pakistan. Objectives: To evaluate the prevalence of infectious diseases in the flood affectee persons at Bhung, District Rahim Yar Khan in southern Punjab. Patients and Methods: This cross sectional study was conducted among the flood affectee at the flood relief camp of Sheikh Zayed Hospital / Medical College, Rahim Yar Khan located at Bhung, Rahim Yar Khan, during the month of September 2010. The data regarding age, sex, education, occupation, geographical origin and nature of disease were obtained from the patients attending flood relief medical camp for health care and was analyzed on SPSS version 14. Results: During the study period, 8074 patients were examined. Patients of all ages and both sexes were included. Male to female ratio was 1 to 1.01.The patients ranged from neonates to more than 70 years of age. The children under the age of ten years were 40.99%. Among the flood affectee, the most common diseases in decreasing order of frequency were diarrhoea, RTI, skin infection, eye infection, ear infection and bone trauma. Conclusion: Clean water, environmental hygiene and health education with proper and timely medical cover can reduce mortality and morbidity.

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