Disease Toll Rises To 179 In Flood-Hit Indian State

EPIDEMICS

A Mumbai Municipal Corporation worker fumigates the Bharat Nagar slum area, on the outskirts of India's financial capital, after residents were affected by water-borne illnesses, 12 August 2005. Doctors battled to treat sick patients in crowded hospitals in India's financial hub of Mumbai and surrounding areas as the death toll climbed to 76 from water-borne illnesses caused by heavy rains. A major worry was an outbreak of leptospirosis that officials believed was responsible for many deaths but a host of cases of gastroenteritis, viral fever, dengue fever and other illnesses was also reported. Many patients had waded through water up to neck deep to reach safety or get supplies during the week-long deluge that ended August 2. The rains were the worst-recorded in Maharashtra, India's industrial powerhouse. AFP photo by Sebastian D'souza.

Mumbai (AFP) Aug 14, 2005
The death toll from water-borne diseases in India's commercial capital Mumbai and surrounding regions after floods brought by record monsoon rains has risen to 179, officials said Sunday.

But outbreaks of deadly leptospirosis, gastroentiritis, dengue fever, cholera and jaundice, which have forced more than 7,700 people to seek hospital treatment, appeared to be slowing.

"We saw a period where the 'acute' leptospirosis cases rose sharply. Now the intensity and incidence of water-borne cases is slowly diminishing," Mumbai municipal commissioner Johnny Joseph told AFP.

The illnesses have been incubating since the incessant rains ended August 2. The rains were the worst in living memory, killing 1,071, turning streets into rivers and leaving piles of garbage and rotting animal carcasses.

Many people had waded through neck-deep water to reach safety or get supplies during the floods, and the disease death toll in Mumbai stood at 107 on Sunday and 72 in the surrounding regions, Joseph said.

"We expect the number of cases to reduce. Those discharged from hospitals will continue with the requisite antibiotics course to prevent recurrence of the ailment," R. Katti, director of health surveillance in Maharashtra state.

He added that 1,250 medical teams were continuing to work at relief camps, as well as hold door-to-door visits in the worst-hit areas of the western state, whose capital is Mumbai.

India's ruling national Congress party president Sonia Gandhi visited western regions of Maharashtra and Mumbai late Saturday to review relief work.

Environmentalists and urban planners blamed the widespread flooding in Mumbai on poor drainage caused by rampant unscrupulous development that blocked water exits.

Leptospirosis is caused by exposure to water contaminated with animal urine and symptoms include high fever and vomiting.

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EPIDEMICS

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