Published Date: 2004-04-28 23:50:00
Subject: PRO/EDR> Cholera - India (Calcutta)
Archive Number: 20040428.1181
CHOLERA - INDIA (CALCUTTA)
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Date: Sun, 25 Apr 2004
From: ProMED-mail <promed@promedmail.org>
Source: The Telegraph [edited]
<http://www.telegraphindia.com/1040425/asp/calcutta/story_3170349.asp>
Tests point to cholera outbreak
-------------------------------
Tests conducted by the National Institute of Cholera and Enteric Diseases
have revealed that nearly all the patients admitted to the Infectious
Diseases (ID) Hospital at Beleghata following the gastroenteritis outbreak
in several parts of Calcutta were victims of cholera.
A report submitted to the state health department by the institute says
that as many as 99 per cent of the over 1500 patients admitted to the ID
Hospital between 5 and 17 Apr 2004 -- the period during which the spate of
casualties was highest -- were suffering from diarrhea caused by _Vibrio
cholerae_ O1 bacteria.
Hundreds of residents in the congested slum areas of Narkeldanga,
Rajabazar, Tangra, and Beniapukur had to be rushed to the hospital with
symptoms of severe dehydration and stomach upset following consumption of
contaminated piped water provided by the Corporation.
The route of infection for both gastroenteritis and cholera is the same:
the fecal-oral route. Experts explained that unhygienic habits, like taking
meals near toilets, lead to contamination of both food and water. Doctors
at the ID hospital, however, point out that most of the patients admitted
got the infection through polluted water. Sewage water, leaking through
damaged pipes, had mixed with filtered drinking water.
Though the symptoms and treatment for attacks of gastroenteritis and
cholera are the same, an infection with the latter could be fatal if
medication is not provided. Health department officials, however, say that
cholera is usual in Calcutta with the onset of summer, and the number of
admissions was coming down.
--
ProMED-mail
<promed@promedmail.org>
[The number of cases -- more than 1500 over 12 days -- has prompted the
posting of this outbreak separately instead of in the cholera, diarrhea &
dysentery update. - Mod.LL]
See Also
Cholera, diarrhea & dysentery update 2004 (07) 20040427.1175Cholera, diarrhea & dysentery update 2004 (06) 20040419.1086
Cholera, diarrhea & dysentery update 2004 (05) 20040412.0995
Cholera, diarrhea & dysentery update 2004 (04) 20040403.0913
Cholera - South Africa (NW Province) 20040331.0879
Cholera, diarrhea & dysentery update 2004 (03) 20040329.0860
Cholera, diarrhea & dysentery update 2004 (02) 20040317.0737
Cholera, diarrhea & dysentery update 2004 (01) 20040104.0035
2003
---
Cholera, imported - China (Hong Kong) ex Thailand 20031210.3030
Cholera, environmental isolate - Nicaragua (Tipitapa) 20031208.3017
Cholera, diarrhea & dysentery update 2003 (13) 20031007.2513
Cholera, diarrhea & dysentery update 2003 (12) 20030908.2259
Cholera, diarrhea & dysentery update 2003 (11) 20030815.2037
Cholera, diarrhea & dysentery update 2003 (10) 20030812.1992
Cholera, diarrhea & dysentery update 2003 (09) 20030729.1862
Cholera, diarrhea & dysentery update 2003 (08) 20030718.1767
Cholera - Liberia (Monrovia) (02) 20030710.1686
Cholera - Liberia (Monrovia) 20030704.1644
Cholera, diarrhea & dysentery update: 2003 (07) 20030630.1610
Cholera, diarrhea & dysentery update 2003 (06) 20030531.1330
Cholera - Iraq (Basra) (04) 20030514.1202
Cholera - Iraq (Basra) 20030509.1158
Cholera, diarrhea & dysentery update 2003 (05) 20030228.0502
Cholera, diarrhea & dysentery update 2003 (04) 20030218.0419
Cholera - Chile: alert 20030215.0399
Cholera, diarrhea & dysentery update 2003 (03) 20030118.0149
Cholera, diarrhea & dysentery update 2003 (02) 20030112.0101
Cholera, diarrhea & dysentery update 2003 (01) 20030106.0042
.....................ll/pg/sh
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