Water-borne diseases on the rise in Jamshedpur, viral fever grips people

Jamshedpur : With Steel City’s weather at its unpredictable best, there has been a rise in cases of water borne diseases in the city.

Hospitals in the city are reporting an increased incidence of gastroenteritis (GE) and cases with symptoms of cholera.Water contamination, especially in low-lying areas that were inundated in the recent rain, is said to be the reason.

If the reports from the various nursing homes and doctors of the city are to be believed then every day 1520 casesof dysentery or nausea are being reported. Majority of the food poisoning cases are witnessed after consuming food and liquids in marriages, gettogethers, parties, picnics and consuming street food and juices, which are easily available at many places in the city.

Sources in nursing homes informed since past one week the cases with symptoms of dysentery, nausea and severe abdominal cramps have increased. “”We get at least four patients every day at the hospital. Gastroenteritis is the frequent passage of loose stools.

It is most often used by infection from bacteria such as E. coli and Vibrio cholerae, or by viruses and parasites such as Giardia,” said an official of Rajasthan Seva Sadan. Authorities at Tata Main Hospital and MGM College and Hospital also said that cases of dysentery or nausea have shot of with onset of rainy season.

According to Dr. U K Srivastava, food-borne illnesses increase in rainy season because bacteria and other virus find it easy to grow faster in these months when temperatures hover between 35 and 40 degrees. In the day sun rises while in the evening it rains.

Situations like these play havoc on the patients he added. The doctor further said that cases of viral diseases are also on high especially among school going children More than 12 residents of Baghbera were treated at local hospitals after they came in with symptoms of diarrhoea, vomiting and pain in the abdomen recently.

Doctors at the MGM Medical College and Hospital are also regularly seeing patients with complaints of diarrhoea, vomiting and dehydration. Symptoms include nausea, vomiting and abdominal cramps, followed by dehydration. Another doctor advises people to drink water that has been boiled and cooled.

People should watch what they eat, he says, and adds: “It is advisable to eat hot home-cooked food and avoid stale, roadside food.