A team of officials rushed to Mustapur Wadi in Humnabad taluk following reports of a cholera outbreak in the village on Wednesday.
“As many as 34 cases have been reported from the village in 10 days. But no one has died,” District Disease Surveillance Officer M.A. Jabbar said. Some patients were being treated in Hallikhed-K and the rest in Humnabad.
A team of five doctors and officers are camping in the village. An ambulance is stationed to attend to emergencies. Mr. Jabbar and Govindappa B.H., Humnabad Taluk Panchyat Executive Officer visited the village and spoke to the patients and their families.
According to officials, open defecation might have contaminated drinking water sources that could have led to infection.
People drink water from open wells and borewells, and there are some leakages in the pipes carrying water from water sources to the cisterns in the street corners. Infected water could have entered into the pipes through the leakages, a senior officer said.
Dr. Jabbar is supervising measures to check the spread of the disease. Large-scale disinfection is being done using bleaching powder and other chemicals. Water quality in wells and borewells is being tested regularly. Disinfectants are being sprayed or mixed with drinking water sources.
Gautam Arali, District Swachch Bharat Mission officer, and his colleagues are urging households in the village to build individual toilets with the help of the zilla panchayat.
After news of the death of a person in Mustapur Wadi spread, Bidar Zilla Panchayat president Bharatbai Kodambal and Bidar Zilla Panchayat Chief Executive Officer Pavan Kumar Malpati visited his home. However, it was revealed later that he had died of a heart ailment in a private hospital in Kalaburgi.
