THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: The Attingal Municipality region has been put on alert after a migrant labourer from West Bengal tested positive for cholera, the District Medical Office said.
The 23-year-old from Kolkata was admitted to hospital with complaints of diarrhoea and vomiting.
The PEID (Prevention of Epidemics and Infectious Disease) Cell under the Communicable Diseases Department of the Thiruvananthapuram Medical College confirmed it was a case of cholera by Friday afternoon.
Copies of the report have been sent both to the District Collector and the Director of Health Services, Additional DMO Neena Rani said. The DMO has also kicked off measures on a war-footing to contain a possible spread of the disease in Attingal Municipality and its neighbourhood.
“We have taken all measures to prevent the spread of the disease. Right now, the focus is on Attingal,’’ she said.
The DMO despatched a team to Attingal as part of the preventive measures. Inspections of restaurants and eateries in the area were also carried out on Friday.This is the first time in the last five years that a cholera case is being reported in Thiruvananthapuram district. The last instance of cholera - it was an outbreak - was reported from the coastal areas in 2012. The difference this time is that the disease has been reported from a major town.
In August, the Health Department had sounded an alert, including in Thiruvananthapuram, after cholera cases were reported among the migrant labourer population in Pathanamthitta and Kozhikode.
However, on that occasion, no case had been reported in the capital district, Dr Neena said.
After the alert was given in August, health officials had decided to focus on migrant labourers as a vulnerable section with regard to communicable diseases.