State lost 257 lives to water-borne diseases in three years

Gastroenteritis, which broke out in the slums of Okalipuram in the City recently, is just one of the water-borne diseases that can be fatal.

Several hundred deaths have been reported in the last three years in the country, due to diseases caused by consumption of unsafe and contaminated water. And Karnataka is no exception to this. 

Contaminated water can cause Acute Diarrhoeal Diseases (ADD), Viral Hepatitis, Cholera and Typhoid (Enteric Fever). 

A total of 257 deaths have been reported due to these diseases in the State during 2009, 2010 and 2011.

The information was made available by the Union Ministry of Health and Family Affairs. The 257 deaths were among the 21,12,308 cases detected.

Of this, three people died due to cholera out of the 610 cases detected during the three years. Andhra Pradesh saw four deaths out of 715 cases, while two died in Tamil Nadu out of 1,308 cases. Kerala saw three deaths, out of the 81 cases detected.

Similarly, ADD took 192 lives in Karnataka with 19,62,271 cases detected, while Andhra Pradesh, Tamil Nadu and Kerala saw 424, 97 and six people die, respectively, due to the disease.

Viral Hepatitis was responsible for 43 deaths in Karnataka. Enteric fever led to the death of 19 in the State. 

Experts believe that intake of drinking water containing high fluoride and arsenic contents may lead to a number of other health problems such as dental fluorosis and arsenicosis and that only provision of safe drinking water can control spread of waterborne diseases.

In order to address the problem of fluorosis in the country, an initiative titled ‘National Programme for Prevention and Control of Fluorosis’ (NPPCF) has been approved by the Centre under the 11th five year plan at a cost of Rs 68 crore.