Medical surveillance in Moghalrajpuram amid diarrhoea outbreak

Vijayawada: The Vijayawada Municipal Corporation has initiated steps to contain the suspected diarrhoea outbreak by stopping piped water supply and reaching drinking water through tankers for domestic purposes.

Some 63 persons were treated at the dedicated mobile medical camp set up in the Moghalrajpuram area on Wednesday, VMC said.

The diarrhoea outbreak continues to keep the residents of Moghalrajpuram on their toes. Many are making a beeline to the medical camp with the symptoms of loose motion and vomiting for the second day.

Notably, a 47-year-old man died of suspected diarrhoea and over two dozen people were hospitalised in the Moghalrajpuram area with such symptoms due to alleged drinking water contamination through the civic pipelines.

Sources in the district health department, told Deccan Chronicle that there was a suspected diarrhoea outbreak. The exact cause of the illness will be determined after the test-results of the water samples from the GGH laboratory arrive in a day or two, they said.

Meanwhile, the municipal corporation stopped water supply through its pipelines for 48 hours and began supplying water through tankers. It advised the people to drink boiled water.

The health department has set up a dedicated medical camp to check and treat the affected people in the area. Health personnel are visiting houses where people fell ill and collecting water samples for testing.

“Some loose stool samples have been sent to the Vijayawada government hospital for testing and determination for the cause of the illness,” NTR district epidemiologist Dr Sneha Sameera said.

Twelve people with severe symptoms have been admitted to hospitals, out of which five were discharged while two are undergoing treatment at the GH and five others at various private hospitals in the city, she said.