Srinagar, Mar 15 (KNS): Raising alarm over colossal Helicobacter Pylori (H pylori) infection in Kashmir, Doctors Association Kashmir (DAK) Tuesday attributed it to highly contaminated water.
Ascribing H pylori infection to high prevalence of gastric cancer in Kashmir, President DAK Dr Nisar ul Hassan in a statement issued to KNS said that unsafe water supply to denizens is responsible for this infection.
Around 70% of the population in Kashmir is infected with H pylori which cause most of the gastro duodenal diseases.
The International Agency for Research on Cancer (IRAC) sponsored by WHO in 1994 has categorized H pylori as class 1 carcinogen and a definite cause of human gastric cancer.
Gastric cancer accounts for more than 60% of all cancers in Kashmir and most of the epidemiologists believe that H pylori is possibly the only cause of stomach cancer in areas with high incidence of the infection.
Unsafe drinking water and poor sanitation in Kashmir favor high prevalence of H pylori infection in the population.Click Here To Follow Our WhatsApp Channel
According to a study carried out by National level monitoring agency, under union rural development Ministry, 60% of villages and over 40% of schools in Kashmir rely on unsafe drinking water.
61% of drinking water in the hospitals of North Kashmir was unsafe for drinking, revealed a study by Integrated Disease Surveillance Project (IDSP).
Sanitation in JK is among the worst in the country with more than 54% households without toilets, according to the baseline survey 2012 of the union Ministry of drinking water and sanitation.
Recently during hepatitis E outbreak in South Kashmir, water was found to be grossly contaminated.
Water industry in Kashmir lacks testing facility for H pylori and it relies on coliform bacteria, a bacterial indicator to evaluate the safety of source waters, but H pylori has been found in waters where coliform indicators were absent. (KNS)