Deccan Herald - Gastro spectre over City, 44 taken ill

Deccan Herald - Gastro spectre over City, 44 taken ill: "An epidemic-like situation broke out on Sunday at Nehrupuram, Seppings Road and Thimmaiah Road localities of Bharatinagar here with 44 people including 25 children below the age of 12 taking ill with symptoms of gastroenteritis.

Fourteen of the infected are being treated as in-patients at three different hospitals in Bharatinagar. Four each have been admitted to the BBMP hospital on Thimmaiah Road and Popular Nursing home, while six others are being treated at GM Health Care.

Relatives of the infected blamed the Cauvery water supplied by the Bangalore Water Supply and Sewerage Board (BWSSP) for their kin falling ill.
Harikrishna, father of four-and-a-half-year-old Keerthana who has been admitted at GM Health Care, said his daughter developed diarrhoea and vomiting on Saturday evening. She was admitted to the nursing home as there was no improvement in her condition on Sunday morning. He said his family has no source of water other than BWSSB’s Cauvery water. “Drinking water supplied in the area is highly contaminated. One can see foreign bodies in water even with bare eye,” he said.

Dr Anand of Popular Nursing Home said contamination of water is the main cause for gastroenteritis. “Four patients suffering from diarrhoea and vomiting have been admitted in our hospital,” he said.

Palike doctors said one of the four patients admitted to their hospital, is suffering from severe dehydration. “We are appealing to our patients to ask their neighbours with similar symptoms to take proper medicine. Ambulances have been kept ready in the hospital. In case of emergency, the patient will be shifted to Isolation Hospital,” a doctor said.

BWSSB defends

BWSSB chairperson Lata Krishnarao declined to accept the theory that contaminated Cauvery water was the cause for the disease.

“Water drawn from borewells or supplied by private tankers must have caused the disease. Unless proper tests are conducted it is not fair to jump into the conclusion that Cauvery water supplied by BWSSB is causing the disease,” she said.

She said the supply of Cauvery water in the area was stopped on Sunday after instances of gastroenteritis were reported."