CUTTACK: Jaundice outbreak is back to haunt the Cuttack civic administration with at least 15 persons testing positive in last couple of days spreading panic among residents.
Sources said, fresh jaundice cases came to light after four persons in Rajendra Nagar area under ward no 52 initially tested positive for the disease on Saturday. The cases shot up to 15 after 11 others tested positive on Sunday. Local residents claimed the number of cases would be more than 70 if those found positive in the last two months are taken into consideration. They alleged contaminated drinking water led to spread of jaundice cases in their locality.
Chief district medical and public health officer Dr Makaranda Beuria confirmed the outbreak of the disease and said a joint inspection team comprising officials of Cuttack Municipal Corporation (CMC) and ADMO (disease control) visited the affected locality to take stock of the situation. “After getting information that some people have tested positive for jaundice on Saturday, we had sent a team for collection of fresh samples. Of the 47 samples collected from different locations of the ward, high levels of bilirubin were found in 11. However, three persons are now under treatment,” he said.
The CDMO informed a health camp has been set up in Rajendra Nagar to collect more samples and treat people if found positive. He also attributed the possible reasons behind the spread of the disease to water contamination as no other reasons could be ascertained during preliminary investigations. “The drinking water sources have been disinfected,” he added. Meanwhile, the officials of Water Corporation of Odisha (Watco) visited the affected area following the allegation of water contamination. They collected water samples and sent the same for tests to confirm the source and type of contamination.
“As per initial tests conducted through the S2S method, no contamination of water was found. No leakage in drinking water pipes has been detected yet. Several places have been dug and we are still searching if there is any leakage of pipes,” said Watco general manager Debabrata Mohanty. However, corporator Soubhagini Jena alleged that the cases shot up as Watco officials and the civic body authorities did not bother with their initial information about the jaundice outbreak a month ago.