KALPETTA: Health authorities in Wayanad are intensifying surveillance and containment measures after five more students tested positive for shigella, a highly infectious bacterial disease that causes severe gastrointestinal illness.
The latest cases have pushed the total number of confirmed infections among students in the district to eight, prompting concerns that the outbreak may be extending beyond the initial cluster identified at a school in Koliyadi.
The newly infected children are students of Mar Baselios AUPS at Koliyadi, the institution where the outbreak first surfaced last week. According to health officials, the latest patients are children aged 5, 7, 8, 9, and 11.
Medical teams have reported that all eight confirmed patients remain in stable condition and are responding well to treatment. Samples from 18 people who developed symptoms after coming into contact with students have been collected and sent for laboratory testing.