Cholera cases detected in Odisha's Jajpur, diarrhoea toll rises to 5

Bhubaneswar/Jajpur: With the death toll due to diarrhoea rising to five on Saturday and 1,500 others being infected with the water-borne disease in Odisha's Jajpur, the Centre rushed three separate expert teams to study the ground situation in the district where some cases of cholera have also been detected, officials said.

The Jajpur district administration has cancelled Raja festival holidays for government officials and also banned community feasts on the occasion as the disease spread to fresh areas.

"In view of the diarrhoea outbreak in different parts of the district, the holidays from June 14 to 16 are hereby cancelled. All offices in Jajpur district will remain open as usual and the services of employees will be utilised in case of exigency," the order issued by the district collector said.

Though the rate of people getting admitted to hospitals in diarrhoea-related cases declined on Saturday, the state government was worried over the detection of cholera cases, another senior official said.

"Of the 200 samples collected, eleven have tested positive for vibrio cholerae. However, there has been no large-scale spread of cholera and the cases have not been reported from any particular cluster," Director of Public Health, Dr Nilakantha Mishra, told reporters, adding that the central government sent three teams comprising 14 experts to assess the ground situation in the district.

An official release said that in order to make the field work more targeted, three teams have been sent by the central government.

On the instructions of the Director General of Health Services of the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, a seven-member health team and a three-member food safety team have been sent to Odisha.

Similarly, a four-member special food quality team has been sent by the Food Safety and Quality Authority of India (FSSAI). There are a total of 14 people in these three teams, the official release said.

"These teams will visit the affected areas to assess the public health situation and provide necessary advice to the field officers, state and central governments on the causes and prevention of the disease," Dr Mishra said.

Claiming that the situation has improved as compared to Friday, Dr Mishra said that a total of 1,516 people suffering from diarrhoea were admitted to various hospitals in Jajpur district since May 9. Of them, 1,306 have recovered and 210 are undergoing treatment. Doctors are hopeful that they will recover soon, he said.

Meanwhile, the NRHM Director Dr Brunda D and Special Secretary of Health and Family Welfare Department, Bijay Mohapatra, visited some of the affected areas and reviewed the situation.

Jajpur Chief District Medical Officer (CDMO) Bijay Mishra said that the disease spread due to consumption of contaminated water in some community feats.

"Our health workers have been disinfecting different water sources while food safety officers are collecting samples of water, street foods and even tube well water for examination. We suspect that the disease spread due to contaminated water and high humidity in the area," he said.

Additional Chief District Medical Officer (ACDMO) Prakash Chandra Bal said the diarrhoea toll rose to five with one more fatality reported on Friday.

Meanwhile, Chief Secretary Manoj Ahuja has directed the health administrations of neighbouring districts to remain alert regarding the spread of the waterborne disease.

He directed health authorities to step up measures to prevent and control the spread of waterborne diseases such as cholera, diarrhoea, jaundice, malaria, and dengue after the onset of monsoon.

Ahuja also directed officials to complete sanitation work within ten days and make all programmes for prevention, control, and management of water and vector-borne diseases more proactive and targeted. He also suggested the district administration conduct household surveys to detect diseases, besides increasing beds in government hospitals, ensuring proper treatment and providing necessary medicines and saline.

The chief secretary also directed the Health and Family Welfare Department to use mobile health units to make people aware of the water-borne diseases.