KATHMANDU, Oct. 8 (Xinhua) -- Seven persons died of dysentery in southern Nepal districts on Sunday, local newspaper The Himalayan Times reported on Monday.

    A senior official at district public health office, Rakesh Kumar Thakur said five were dead in Saptari district of Sagarmatha Zone, some 190 km south of capital Kathmandu.

    Thakur said the disease had affected 50,000 people in different villages of the district.

    He added the health teams had admitted that the disease outbreak was getting out of hand, and all stocks of medicines and saline water at the district public health office had run out.

    Sagarmatha zonal hospital superintendent Kedar Giri said the prevailing temperatures of 35 to 38 degrees centigrade were ideal conditions for the breeding of dysentery bacteria.

    Dr. Giri said 15 dysentery patients are arriving at the hospital daily.

    According to him, each patient needs at least 60 bottles of saline water.

    Elsewhere, three persons died of dysentery in Mahottari district on Sunday.

    Over 200 persons have been afflicted with the disease, the district public health office said. The chief of the office said that consumption of contaminated drinking water and small fish from the paddy fields are the main factors responsible for the outbreak of dysentery.

    Dysentery has spread in over six villages of Mahottari district, some 130 km south of capital Kathmandu.