Thiruvananthapuram: Amid the growing concerns of contagious diseases in Kerala, the number of patients suffering from diarrhoeal diseases is also increasing at an alarming rate.

Over 50,000 people sought treatment with symptoms like diarrhoea and vomiting in various government hospitals across the state in June, shows the data released by the health department. This week, the number of patients crossed 10,000.

The data released on the official website of the health department hinted that contaminated food and water led to the outbreak of these contagious diseases in the state. On June 21, a total of 2,519 diarrhoea and vomiting-related cases were reported in Kerala. Though the number of patients declined to 1009 on Sunday, it touched 2348 on Monday.

As per the records, over 2000 people are seeking medical care for diarrhoeal diseases every day in the state. A total of 50,346 similar cases are reported till June 27, shows the data.

Malappuram, Kozhikode, Kannur and Palakkad districts recorded the highest number of patients in the state.

Meanwhile, Kerala has been witnessing a steep rise in the spread of fever cases like dengue, rat fever, H1N1 and chikungunya. A total of 12,778 fever cases were reported in the state on Wednesday.

Five people including a four-year-old girl breathed their last while undergoing treatment for fever. The health department suspects that four of them died of dengue fever and one succumbed to rat fever.