Diarrhoea is spreading in Phuket, with an average of about 150 cases being treated at state and private hospitals per day and the outbreak is expected to persist for 1-2 months, according to Dr. Kusak Kukiattikoon, the provincial health chief.
He said that the condition is spreading in all age groups, but mostly among students. Patients are complaining of abdominal pain, watery stools and vomiting, with some also having a fever.
Dr. Kusak suspects that the patients have consumed unhygienic food, drinking water or ice contaminated with the Noro or Rota virus or E.coli bacteria.
Public health officials have taken samples of ice from six major ice production facilities in the province for testing, while local administrative organisations have been instructed to put more chlorine in tap water.
Phuket Governor Narong Woonsiew said, however, that the outbreak of diarrhoea on the resort island is under control and urged members of the public to trust the public health system.
