Gastroenteritis: one dies, 39 more taken ill

By Our Staff Reporter

ANANTAPUR, MARCH 7. One person succumbed to gastroenteritis resulting from water contamination in the district headquarters here at the General Hospital today. Thirtynine new cases of the disease were reported at the hospital till Wednesday evening, including 11 children.

The fresh cases of gastroenteritis has taken the total number of cases reported at the General Hospital from March 4 night to 137, including the cases reported from outside. A majority of the new 39 cases were also from the V road area. A few cases were reported from Rangaswamynagar and Pilligundla colony. One Anand (25) of the V road died in the early morning. His father, Marenna, was among the four who were seriously ill. The condition of Shantakumari (25), one of them, was stated to be critical. Most of the persons admitted yesterday were discharged today. In all, 52 patients were being treated for the disease in the hospital.

Meanwhile, a team of officials of the Health and Municipal Administration Departments visited the V road area, the most affected area with water contamination in the town. They included the Regional Deputy Director (Health), Dr. Ramachandra Reddy, the Regional Deputy Director (Municipal Administration), Mr. C. Nagaraja Rao, and district officials. They examined the pipeline system and its plans, where the system was broken and the reasons as to why only the V road area was the most affected though the pipeline supplied water to several surrounding areas. The municipal officials distributed chlorine tablets again in the area asking residents to dissolve them in drinking water.

All the 80 water samples collected from the affected areas yesterday were found to be perfect. The negative reports of the samples, meaning no contamination, has made the problem more puzzling. About 30 trainee nurses were also engaged in a door-to- door awareness campaign explaining the measures to be taken for safe drinking water. The Municipal Commissioner, Mr. Rangachari, the Municipal Health Officer, Dr. Raja Sanathkumar, and the DM&HO, Dr. B.V.N.Chowdary, also visited the affected areas.

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Section  : Southern States
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