Kerala - Kochi   

Health authorities announce preventive steps

Staff Reporter

Fear of outbreak of epidemics during the monsoon

KOCHI: Water- and vector-borne diseases usually spread in the district during the monsoon. Hence, the district health authorities have announced a few precautionary measures against such ailments.

Checking breeding of mosquitoes is a task that the Government authorities may not be able to do alone, Deputy District Medical Officer D. Sreenivasan says.

To control the breeding of mosquitoes, roof-tops should be cleaned, water replaced in flower vases daily, water collected underneath refrigerators emptied, house premises cleared of open coconut shells and unused tyres and water stored in air-tight containers.

Cooperation sought

Health officials have sought the cooperation of Railways, National Highway authorities, residents' associations, panchayats and other organisations to clean up public places. Drainage on National Highways needs to be properly maintained to check water-logging, Dr. Sreenivasan says. Similarly, panchayats need to check the drainage on roads in their limits.

Tyre re-treading companies and hotels and restaurants have been asked to follow the dos and don'ts in checking water-borne diseases.

Tyres need to be stored properly so that water does not collect in it.

Restaurant owners have been told to serve only boiled water, which should not be mixed with other water.

Water supply

"Wherever there is erratic water supply and shortage, water-borne diseases are found," Dr. Sreenivasan says. Spreading of water-borne diseases from faeces can be stopped only through safe water-supply schemes, he says.

Prevalence of hepatitis A and E and typhoid in Fort Kochi and Mattancherry areas is mainly because of water shortage, he adds.

Leptospirosis (rat fever) is found during the rains, as the bacteria causing the disease enter rainwater from urine of infected rats.

To guard against the disease, plantation workers should cover hands and feet with polythene bags before going to work, Dr. Sreenivasan says.

While early detection and treatment of rat fever are easy, it becomes fatal once the bacteria affect major organs. "Hence, we have asked druggists and chemists to discourage over-the-counter sale of commonly used drugs for fever," he says.

Fever is a symptom of the disease, and if a doctor is not consulted early, it will become fatal.

An inter-sector meeting will be held on Tuesday to review the steps taken to check water-borne diseases.

Suspected chikungunya cases in the district are yet to be confirmed.

The Virology Institute at Alappuzha and the Government Medical College in Thiruvananthapuram are the only institutions where nationally approved test kits are available in the State.

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