The Hindu : Karnataka / Bangalore News : Five cholera cases reported in city

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Thursday, Jan 31, 2008
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Karnataka - Bangalore

Five cholera cases reported in city

Staff Reporter

No case of cholera reported from Bharathinagar
Water samples from Neelasandra test negative

BANGALORE: Five persons have tested positive for cholera but it cannot be termed an outbreak as the cases are from different parts of the city, sources at the Department of Health and Family Welfare said on Wednesday.

The five affected by cholera are from Central Street in Neelasandra, Cox Town, Dooravaninagar, Economically Weaker Section Quarters in Kormanagala and Hoskote, sources added. No person has tested positive for cholera at Bharathinagar, where the first case of gastroenteritis was reported on Sunday.

The 19 samples sent to the Public Health Institute (PHI) on Tuesday from the Epidemic Diseases Hospital and the Bruhat Bangalore Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) hospital in Bharathinagar have tested negative. At the BBMP hospital in Bharathinagar, 206 people were treated as outpatients on Wednesday and the number of people in the area complaining of diarrhoea and vomiting has come down, sources said. R. Murali Krishna, doctor at GM Hospital in Bharathinagar, said only five persons were treated for symptoms of gastroenteritis and only one admitted.

Water tested

After reports of scores of people being afflicted with gastroenteritis at Neelasandra, the Bangalore Water Supply and Sewerage Board (BWSSB) on Wednesday collected water samples from six locations in the area on Tuesday. All samples have tested negative for any traces of escherichia coli, the BWSSB said. Illegal water connections could possibly be the reason for cases of water contamination, BWSSB chairperson Latha Krishna Rau told The Hindu. “People use GI pipes to draw water from public taps and take it over manholes. When these pipes corrode, water could get contaminated.”

Shivaram, Joint Director (Communicable Diseases) at the Department of Health and Family Welfare, said that Bangalore Urban District (which includes Bangalore city) reported only 28 cases of cholera in the last two years.

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