HARIPUR, July 24: Twenty-two women have undergone surgery for removal of swollen appendix after appendicitis spread in two villages of Khanpur during the last five days, Dawn learnt on Tuesday. However, the office of EDO health and MS DHQ Haripur have expressed their ignorance.

Physicians attributed the disease  to the existence of either E.coli bacteria in water or eatables that caused blockade in the appendix of patients.

The inhabitants of the villages of Tarar and Jabb of the same area  within a radius of three kilometres  had  earlier experienced gastro-entritis epidemic and lost two of their patients while dozens of others were hospitalized with vomiting and dysentery during the last couple of weeks.

Reports reaching here said 22 patients between eight to 25 years belonging to villages of Sanjliala and Jabb, some 27 km in the south-east of the district headquarter, were brought to a local private hospital of Haripur with severe abdominal pain from where they were diagnosed as the appendix patients and recommended for surgery in another private hospital of district Abbottabad. All these patients were operated upon and their swollen appendix removed.

Some families had even more than one and two patients falling prey to the disease.

“My two daughters aged between 12 to 20 were operated upon for appendix,” said Makhan Din of village Snjliala.

Another villager Khan Mohammad also confirmed that his young daughter and daughter-in-law were among those who had undergone surgery for appendicitis.

The EDO health was reported to be off the seat and lower staff expressed their ignorance. When the MS was called he also expressed ignorance.

Meanwhile, a local physician Dr Ejaz Masood when contacted he first denied to confirm that it could be a virus, however he said there were two reasons of appendix swelling: presence of some small seed of guava or stone and infection which was usually caused from outside injury.

The topography of the affected villages suggested that the 20,000 population of these villages was housed alongside a stream which emerged from a nearby hill and was the only source of potable water for the entire area for the last many centuries.

It is believed by the doctors that the said water was either contaminated by the E.coli bacteria often found in human stool, or the use of the water with small pieces of stone might have caused swelling of appendix in all the patients leading to their surgery.

Dr Masood, besides suggesting complete biopsy of the patients for clear results and the causes of attack of the disease, also asked the people of the area to boil the drinking water or sifting it with a cloth as precautionary measure.

No first aid was given to these patients who opted to visit and operated upon from private surgeons who charged them Rs 4,000 to 7,000 for each surgery.