Villagers at risk of disease at dam
BY
MUKDAWAN SAKBOON
The Nation June 11, 2000
THE increasing number of
freshwater snails in the Mool River is causing concern among health
officials over the possible outbreak of a blood-fluke disease.
There is an urgent need to
investigate this disease and identify patients at risk, said senator elect
for Ubon Ratchathani Dr Nirun Phitakwatchara and a member of a neutral
committee recently formed to solve the controversy over the Pak Mool Dam
in Ubon Ratchathani province.
Concern over the potential
health risk was raised at a discussion yesterday at the Thai Journalists
Association office.
Nirun quoted a recent study by
health researchers at the Regional Office for Communicable Disease Control
7 in Ubon Ratchathani, which reported an increase in the number of snails,
which act as hosts for the blood fluke.
The Ministry of Public Health
has yet to take any action over a possible outbreak of the disease, known
as schistosomiasis, which is caused by a type of parasitic worm that
multiplies in snails.
There were reports of a rise
in the number of incidents of the disease from 21 per cent to 75 per cent
in some areas of Egypt after the completion of the Aswan dam, said Dr
Choochai Supawong of the Ministry of Public Health's Health Department.
This occurred because the host
snails, which die when river levels become low, were able to survive when
the dam was built and the water level increased.
Stagnant dam water provides a
good breeding ground for organic substances, which are a source of
nourishment for the snails, allowing them to multiply, along with the
flukes.
Villagers who enter infested
waters are at risk as the worms can enter the body and migrate through the
blood vessels to the bladder or intestine. When they mature, they can
cause a host of complications, such as kidney failure and haemorrhaging.
When the worms' eggs pass out
into the water through human excrement, they start a new cycle by
infecting snails.
Symptoms of the disease are
fatigue, diarrhoea, swelling of lymph nodes and hardening of the liver.
Although there have been no
cases confirmed in Thailand, villagers have begun to worry about the
possibility of becoming infected with the disease, said Wanida
Tantiwitayapitak, an advisor to the Assembly of the Poor.
"Villagers do not dare
use water from the Mool River after some developed skin problems which
took months to treat," she said, adding that villagers have to either
relocate or travel far to get clean water.
Fish have become scarce, and
thus villagers lack their main source of protein, Wanida said.
Malnutrition, she said, is likely to become another health menace for
villagers in Khong Chiam District, where the Pak Mool Dam is located.
Another equally important
issue is the negative impact the dam has had on the life, culture and
economy of the community near it - an issue which was excluded from
feasibility studies on the dam before its construction, said
anthropologist Srisak Walliphodome.
The breakdown of the community
is a "disease" caused by ill-advised and unjust development, he
said.
Choochai said it would be wise
to collect information on the impact of the dam on villagers' health. and
to establish a monitoring system, as well as a means of tackling problems
that might occur.
He also said mandatory health
impact assessments should be carried out and health monitoring systems
established after the completion of mega projects, and they should be
included in the current National Health Law or the Environment Law, which
is currently being drafted. |
