Cholera, Diarrhea claims 93 lives

The waterborne diarrhoea and cholera continued to play havoc in three Orissa districts as the death toll crossed 93 on Tuesday with hundreds of patients thronging government hospitals. The districts of Rayagada, Koraput and Kalahandi had been affected by the post-monsoon waterborne diseases one and a half months ago but the situation assumed an alarming proportion in the past two weeks. Of the 93 deaths, 49 are in Rayagada, 34 in Koraput and six in Kalahandi district. All deaths in Rayagada district have been reported from 26 villages under Kashipur block.

More than a dozen villages in five blocks have been affected in Koraput. They are Dasmantpur, Laxmipur, Nandapur, Kundura and sadar, as per medai reports. In Kalahandi the worst hit is Thuamul Rampur. A central team of experts also arrived in the state capital and was reviewing the situation along with top health department officials.

Cholera and diarrhoea outbreaks are not new in the three districts, which have been visited by the waterborne diseases almost every monsoon as rainwater slush from hilltops contaminates water sources.

Kalahandi, Koraput and Rayagada districts come under the undivided KBK (Kalahandi, Koraput and Bolangir) region which are among the most underdeveloped parts of the country and often in news for starvation deaths and distress child sales.

In Madhya Pradesh, central Indian state Jabalpur Districts reported 19 deaths have been reported in the last twenty five days in village barella. The patients are complaining of vomiting, diarrhea, probbaly due to wate bormne infections. There have been five suspensuon and district is trying its effforts to provide safe drinking water to the people of the village.