Silent killer spreads in N dists

Two persons with their both legs amputated at RMCH following attack by Buerger disease. The photos were taken on Tuesday. PHOTO: STAR

The number of people affected with the disease is increasing "alarmingly" and even amputation of the affected limb does not stop its reappearance, doctors at Rangpur Medical College Hospital (RMCH) say.

At least 350 patients came for treatment at Rangpur Medical College Hospital (RMCH) alone in the last two years. Only a few "got cured somehow" and the rest became disabled with their affected limbs amputated.

The figure is about four times higher than the number five years back, RMCH Principal and Head of Surgery Department Professor Abdus Sobhan told this correspondent during a visit to the hospital on Tuesday.

Though there is no statistics on the number of such patients in the country, particularly in northern districts, people coming to different hospitals in northern districts is increasing "alarmingly", he said.

This correspondent talked to a good number of patients at the hospital. They include Bablu, 38 and Kashem of Gobindaganj and Mozammel Hoque of Sadullahpur in Gibandha district; Chanon, 50, of Hospital Para in Rangpur town; Jamir Ali of Gangachara, Amena Begum, 50, of Uttom and Mahmuda, 35, of Taraganj in Rangpur; Mohidul Islam of Shibganj in Bogra, and Arjina of Hawra in Nilphamari.

All of them said they were addicted to using tobacco, either smoking or chewing.

Doctors differ on the cause of the disease.

Specialists at RMCH say malnutrition and use of tobacco are the major causes. Unhygienie living conditions and barefooted walking on soil may also cause the disease, they said.

In the past, doctors used to amputate the affected leg so that it can not spread to other limbs. But it proved ineffective, doctors say now.

Despite amputation of an affected leg earlier, a large number of patients came to hospitals with the other leg or a hand affected, they say.

When asked about this, Prof Sobhan said patients who were operated upon become affected again due to use of tobacco. Treatment is not effective if the patient does not give up use of tobacco.

He said a massive awareness campaign should be launched, particularly in northern districts, to check spread of the disease.

In 1996, the then Assistant Professor of Surgery at RMCH, Dr SN Aditta, had claimed that Omentopexy, a kind of surgical operation, could cure the disease. But the operation is ineffective in many cases.

Some RMCH doctors do not agree that malnutrition and tobacco use are the main reasons.

Abdus Sobhan said, it originates at the toe of the foot. At the beginning, the toe turns reddish and swells up. The patient stage feels pain in the toe. Within five to six months, the leg becomes thin and the patient feels excessive pain in the whole leg. At the last stage, gangrene forms and the skin, muscles and bone start rotting, he said.

The patient becomes permanently disabled and can not move without anybody's support of other. Many are dyeing despite treatment, he said.