The source of water contamination remains a mystery after five people died and more than 190 fell ill at Kavadigara Hatti in Chitradurga. With only one overhead tank for the locality, how could only those who were residing in a couple of streets attract infection, leading to sickness and eventually death in five cases - is the question bothering the Chitradurga district administration and the experts of the Health and Family Welfare Department.
The results of laboratory tests of water samples collected from the tank, taps, and houses of patients suggested that the water being supplied is unfit for consumption. Further examination confirmed cholera as the cause of deaths of two of the five. The chemical analysis of the samples ruled out rumours of poisoning in water.
The first death was reported on August 1, and since then four others have died. For the first four days, all those who fell ill were also from three streets of Old Dalit Colony in Kavadigara Hatti, which is part of Ward-17 of Chitradurga City Municipal Council. The local residents have been questioning why only people residing on the three streets have been affected. On Saturday, six people residing in a neighbouring street also complained of illness.
The 25,000-litre overhead tank supplies water drawn from Shanti Sagar (Sulekere) in Channagiri taluk, to the village. Suresh, the waterman, also a resident of the village, managed the water supply for many years. He covers the entire settlement in three phases in a day. If the water had been contaminated at the source, thousands of people would have been impacted, as nearly 85% of the city’s population gets its water from Shanti Sagar.
The Department of Health and Family Welfare has deputed a team of experts for intensive surveillance activities, management, and monitoring. The team includes Prashanth Bhat, Epidemic Intelligence Officer of Udupi, epidemiologists Subhash, Krishnamurthy, Nishchitha, Shukla, microbiologists Veena Vijayaran and Monica. Besides that, anaesthetists Anupama and Vinutha and physician Vishwanath from C.V. Raman Hospital in Bengaluru have been sent to Chitradurga.
Chitradurga Superintendent of Police K. Parashuram has said that the police registered unnatural death reports. “We are trying to resolve the mystery of how and where the water got contaminated,” he said. Earlier, the police did probe if there was any foul play in the incident. As there was no evidence of poisoning, the police are also depending on the Health and Family Welfare Department’s staff for further progress in this regard.
The local people remain worried, as they are clueless about the source of contamination. During Health Minister Dinesh Gundu Rao’s visit to the place on Saturday, the people wanted to know why people from three-four streets were affected. The Minister maintained that the issue was being probed.
11 more cases of gastroenteritis reported
Eleven fresh cases of gastroenteritis were reported at Kavadigara Hatti in Chitradurga on Sunday. With that, the total number of cases reported since August 1 has gone up to 206. Among those who fell ill, 67 are children.
So far, 59 have been discharged. As many as 142 are under treatment.
