Jaipur:
Diarrhoea is spreading its tentacles from Talagarh gram panchayat of Korei block to other neighbouring villages in Jajpur district of Odisha.
Over 20 new diarhoea patients, including three school children, were admitted to various government hospitals from Mangarajpur and Upulai villages since Tuesday, officials said.
The infections disease had earlier claimed two lives and left over a hundred sick in Kantajharigarh, Jhumpan, Talagarh, Naguan and Uppergarh under Talagarh panchayat of Korei block in the last five days.
While ten patients were admitted to the Area hospital at Jajpur Road on Tuesday, two patients were admitted to Korei hospital. Similarly, more than eight persons are undergoing treatment at district head quarters hospitals, they said.
According to district health officials, new cases of diarrhea are being reported from neighbouring areas of the affected villages and the health administration is keeping vigil on the situation.
"We have disinfected the water bodies in the affected and sensitive areas while a special health team is camping in the Mangarajpur and Upulai villages that recently witnessed outbreak of diarrhea," said Jajpur CDMO Prasanna Mohanty.
Significantly, this water borne infectious disease seems to have become an annual feature in many villages of Korei block. Last year too, diarrhea broke out twice in the block leaving over fifty affected and a death was also reported. At least 32 people of Sunachara village of the block were affected by the this disease in 2011 and as many as 35 people had fallen ill in the due to an outbreak of diarrhoea in Nahanakula village under Korei block in 2010.
"Every year diarrhea hits areas. But the annual outbreak of diseases has not woken up the local health administration and district health officials from slumber. Its only after one or two persons die that the agencies generally get into action," lamented a local resident.
Official sources said, poor sanitary conditions and supply of unsafe and contaminated drinking water seem to be the main reasons for diarrhoea cases in the region.
"Consumption of contaminated water from unhygienic sources in absence of safe drinking water is said to be the cause of the disease," the CDMO said.
