Raiganj, Oct. 17: Diarrhoea has found an ally in superstition.

In a macabre incident, residents of Dolapara in the Chopra police station area today watched from a distance as life ebbed away from two diarrhoea-stricken women.

Four persons, including the women, have died of the disease in the Islampur and Chopra blocks of the district in the past 24 hours.

The women, Samia Khatun, 30, and Baderunnisa, 40, died of neglect after being infected because their neighbours and family “boycotted” them for fear of contracting the disease.

“Panic-stricken people in the Chopra area have begun avoiding contact with diarrhoea patients and we have confirmed the fact that both Samia Khatun and Baderunnisa died for this reason,” said block medical officer of health Mukti Sadhan Maity.

Maity said a man rang up the block primary health centre from Dolapara with the news of Samia’s death. “The people there are so tense that we think it is risky for us to go to the villages and tell people that diarrhoea infection can be checked,” Maity said. Health staff, however, went to the village and recovered Samia’s body.

Samia’s saga began last week when both her son Babool, 11, and husband Rafikul, 32, succumbed to the disease. When she fell ill on October 5, villagers feared that she had contracted diarrhoea from her son and husband. As the rumours spread, people began avoiding her. She died unattended.

In the same area, Baderunnisa was left to die a slow death by superstitious family members. Both the women, till they were infected, were “very hardworking”, the villagers said.

“The disease is spreading to other villages in the area and the fear among the people is also growing daily. We know the disease can be checked, but we are afraid to carry this message to the villagers for fear of reprisals,” said Sheikh Samsul, a resident of Chopra.

“We have decided to disinfect the pipes from the tubewells as well as those belonging to the water supply from the public health engineering department in the next two days,” subdivisional officer of Islampur Rabindranath Sarkar said. The decision, he said, was taken at a meeting with the North Dinajpur district magistrate.

“I have also come to know about the afflicted people being boycotted by their relatives as well as villagers. We are gathering more information on what is actually happening,” the subdivisional officer said.

The district administration has decided to contact cable television operators in the area and launch a campaign. “We hope to dispel myths by beaming messages over cable TV and by showing them in the video halls of the villages,” Sarkar said.