Water contamination results in jaundice outbreak

First, it was fish kill at Kukkarahalli and Karanji lakes. And now, it is the lives of several city residents, which has been put at risk, all thanks to official apathy.

Sewage water that seeped into the drinking water line, has resulted in an outbreak of jaundice among eleven persons at Gayathripuram ninth cross, in the city.

Of them, one person required hospitalisation. 

The outbreak occurred around two weeks ago, and all the persons who had contracted jaundice, have now recovered, say officials of Health department of the Mysore City Corporation (MCC). MCC’s Health department has attributed the outbreak to the UGD works taken up in the vicinity.

Dr D G Nagaraj, District Surveillance Officer and MCC Health Officer, said that the jaundice outbreak at Gayathripuram, was following UGD works taken up at the vicinity.

“After UGD works were completed, there was accumulation of water over the site owing to rainfall. This might have seeped into the drinking water line, causing the outbreak,” he said.

The disease has been controlled and regular surveillance activities have been taken up, he added.

However, officials of UGD unit of Mysore City Corporation have denied complaints that the works were responsible for the outbreak. “The outbreak could not have been due to the works taken up. We are being unnecessarily blamed,” B L Raju, Executive Engineer (UGD) of MCC, said.

According to Health department, blood samples of the affected have been sent to the referral lab at Mysore Medical College and Research Institute and a report has been awaited.

Other outbreaks

Among water-borne diseases, three outbreaks of cholera was reported in the district from January to July. The first case was reported at Kalabasavanahundi village of T Narsipur taluk, where 69 persons were suspected to have contracted the disease, while it was confirmed among 11 of them.

The second outbreak was at Nanjangud town and the third was at Kumarabeedu village in Mysore taluk, which combined had a total of 124 suspected cases, with four persons confirmed of the disease.

Two outbreaks of Chikungunya, a vector-borne disease, occurred at Yedatale in Nanjangud taluk, where there were 15 suspected cases, of which one was positive.

Another was recently reported at Kaarya village in Nanjangud taluk. Overall, typhoid, a water-borne disease, has affected the highest number of persons during the period, with a total of 705 cases, followed by gastroentritis, with 333 cases being reported.

Regular cleaning

Zilla Panchayat CEO, P A Gopal said that instructions have been sent to all gram panchayats in the district, to regularly clean water supply sources, such as overhead tanks, every month.

“Earlier, gram panchayats which were responsible for the maintenance of water sources, did not regularly clean them. Now, majority of them are cleaning tanks, for fear of outbreak of diseases,” he said.

District Health Officer, Dr H T Puttaswamy said that outbreaks, if any, were being immediately controlled by the department. “We set up temporary clinics at the vicinity where outbreaks are reported so that affected persons receive proper medication,” he said.

Noting that sewage seeping into water lines as one of the major causes for outbreaks, he said that Asha workers of the department were coordinating with respective grama panchayats, to identify places where contamination might occur, so that it could be prevented in advance.