The Hindu : Front Page : Thirty persons down with gastroenteritis in Bangalore

The Hindu : Front Page : Thirty persons down with gastroenteritis in Bangalore: "At least 30 people from two areas in Bangalore have been admitted to the Epidemics Diseases Hospital (Isolation Hospital) in the past four days after they reported symptoms of gastroenteritis.

Twenty patients are from Neelasandra and the rest are from Bharathinagar, and the cases are confirmed as gastroenteritis, sources at the Isolation Hospital told The Hindu. Four people from Neelasandra were admitted on Monday.

No case of cholera has been reported yet. A sample from a private hospital at Bharthinagar tested positive for cholera but on verification turned negative, a health official from Bruhat Bangalore Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) said.
Confusion prevailed in the BBMP over how many cases of gastroenteritis had been confirmed. Chief Health Officer at BBMP L.T. Gayathri said that 24 cases had been reported from Bharathinagar and six from Neelasandra. She maintained that not one case had been confirmed yet.

The source of gastroenteritis has been traced to water contamination in Bharathinagar. At Neelsandra, area medical officer Jayarame Gowda said that causes were yet to be ascertained and an indication of it would only be available on Tuesday.

Following the death of a woman at Bharathinagar allegedly because of water contamination, the Bangalore Water Supply and Sewerage Board on Monday suspended K.S. Renukumar, area assistant engineer, “for negligence and dereliction of duty”, a press release from the board said.

Mr. Renukumar had apparently not been responding to complaints from the public.

On Monday, workers from the board were busy cleaning up the manholes in the area. “We are trying to identify where the sewage leak could have occurred. In the process, we are flushing out the manholes,” Executive Engineer Nagendrappa told The Hindu.
Results

The Central Water Testing Laboratory in the BWSSB has collected six samples from the areas around Bharathinagar and is in the process of analysing the samples. “The results of analysis would be known by noon on Tuesday. Bacteriological tests have been conducted mainly for gastroenteritis,” the sources said. The sources said that such a case had been reported for the first time, as Bangalore received pre-treated water, and that the analysis would show whether water had been contaminated. "