Cuttack: People in Jobra area in Cuttack are living in constant fear of another jaundice outbreak alleging that the local administration has failed to address drainage and drinking water problems in the locality.
According to sources, the leakage in the water pipeline is resulting in contamination and the local residents and the corporator of the area have directly blamed Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA), which is undertaking drainage works, for the water contamination.
The leakage in drinking water pipeline has caused an artificial pond in the area.
The situation has turned more serious with drain water mixing with the drinking water supply, sources added.
“There was leakage in the drinking water pipeline around one and a half months back.
Another resident, Samaresh Ray said “The leakage happened after digging by JICA, which did not even repair it.
There is water and dirt on the road.
Our area is Jaundice and dengue-prone so there is fear of the disease spreading in the area.
JICA has now passed on the responsibility of repairing the pipeline to the Public Health Engineering Department (PHED).” Susanta Kumar Ghadei, Executive Officer of PHED, Cuttack said “If we repair the pipeline, it will not be permanent as JICA work is continuing and the hole dug by them continues to exist.
The water pipes are getting disturbed this way.”

“Pure water” is the household name for packaged sachet water.
Efforts to gain entrance into the main compound proved abortive but a quick survey of the entire factory revealed that the products are conveyed in an unbranded white but rickety looking ‘pick-up’ Van, while the major production factory is a sore sight.
For instance, a sachet water producing factory with brand name Tbillz Daily table water is located in a popular estate along Lifecamp, Abuja.
A visit to some factories in the state revealed how the purportedly “pure water” is packaged in shops located in secluded areas, away from prying eyes of the public.
There was a case where somebody just picked another person’s nylon, printed the same thing and was producing water.” Similarly in Niger State, from the three factories visited (Al-machus, Supreme and Kabinaf), only one of them seemed to be operating in a fairly clean environment.
On getting to the factory’s entrance, one could not have imagined that water for drinking is being packaged for sale in such place.
According to him, considering the environment where the water is being produced, there are possibilities that the source of water is not from a borehole within the environment.
“The question mark on this sample is that they may be using direct tap water because I have seen instances, where people will say, is it not treated water from the water board.
However, NAFDAC has to be particular about the environment because they are not always there to monitor.” “If it is NAFDAC that went to that site, it will be closed down irrespective of the water quality because they will always tell you that your factory should not be close to the dump site.
Like typhoid, it could be waterborne or food-borne.” NAFDAC Speaks When contacted, the National Agency for Foods and Drugs Administration Control (NAFDAC) affirmed the situation but explained that there are cases where manufacturers lower their standards after getting the required certification from the agency.

The Assistant Commissioner of Food Safety in Kupwara said preliminary investigation and feedback from the affected people revealed that the outbreak was not due to consumption of any unhygienic food items, but due to the tap water used by them in Jagerpora village.
Deputy Commissioner (DC) of Kupwara Khalid Jahangir had constituted a team to investigate the outbreak and asked them to submit the report on Sunday evening.
An official spokesperson said that in order to take stock of the situation, Mr Jahangir visited Jagerpora, Handwara in Kupwara, interacted with the locals of village, and inquired about the health of the affected.
The DC also inspected the mobile medical camps to check the treatment facilities available.
The DC constituted a team comprising ADC Handwara, SE Baramulla and Chief Medical Officer Kupwara to conduct a detailed inquiry about the outbreak and receive feedback from the people.
The Deputy Commissioner also inspected the spring that functions as the main source of water for the village and issued on-spot directions to PHE Department to mobile resources on war footing for expediting the on-going renovation, repair and protection work on the water body.
Mr Jahangir assured every possible assistance, including financial support from the district administration to the concerned department and directed the PHE Handwara to complete the work within one week.
The DC also directed the health department to ensure the availability of physicians, para-medics, medicines for the quick recovery of the affected and conduct awareness campaigns to fully aware and inform the people of the village and vicinity about sustainable access to safe drinking water.
He instructed the officials of health department to advise people to drink boiled water and to take all necessary precautions.
— (UNI) — C-1-DL0433-1475080.Xml

After around 150 people have been treated for diarrhoea at the Manimajra civil hospital in the past week, the Chandigarh health department has finally found the source of water contamination in Mauli Jagran.
The water from Tubewell No.
4 was found “grossly contaminated” with the bacteria E. coli, a report revealed on Wednesday.
Mauli Jagran and surrounding areas are being supplied water from six tubewells.
The health department also found that Tubewell No.
3 was not properly covered.
‘Very high level’ Initially, the health department had collected 118 water samples from houses for hydrogen sulphide test, but the reports found no contamination.
Following this, samples were taken from the six tubewells for multiple tube test on Monday.
“The water of Tubewell No.
We will clean the supply lines and are hopeful to resume normal supply by Thursday evening.” According to health officials, there were 15 fresh cases of diarrhoea reported at the civil hospital on Wednesday, taking the total number to 156.

Drinking water pipelines and open drains side by side in Guntur, Andhra Pradesh Guntur, Andhra Pradesh: In a massive outbreak of gastroenteritis, 10 people have reportedly died in Guntur district of Andhra Pradesh; officials put the number of deaths at four in the last week.
Reports say, negligence on the part of civic officials and staff led to widespread water contamination.
It’s a near-epidemic situation, said the District Medical Officer Yasmin.
Hospitals have been flooded with patients complaining of vomiting, frequent motions and fever.
The District Collector, K Sasidhar, has done a door to door survey with health officials and has asked the health centres to stock up necessary medicines and IV fluids.
Teams to inspect the water supply pipelines have been formed by Mr Sasidhar, who is personally overseeing repair of leakages.
Special medical camps have been organised in the worst affected colonies of Anandapet, Sangadigunta, Old Guntur, Ali Nagar, KVP Colony and Sarada Colony.
An emergency meeting was called by the Municipal Commissioner C. Anuradha on Saturday, after which super chlorination was done to control contamination.
Ripe garbage and open drains next to drinking water points have been seen in several localities of Guntur.
Bottled water is also not available as the authorities have cracked down on local bottling plants to stop contamination.

This notorious epidemic that knows no class broke out in October last year and has so far claimed about 80 lives while 3,635 people have been treated.
It is believed that lack of access to clean drinking water and better sanitation are among the factors that ignited the outbreak of cholera in the capital city.
She then explains how the outbreak of cholera in the unplanned settlement has negatively affected the lives of many people due to water shortages and the inadequacies of water infrastructure.
This year, Government has allocated K564.5 million for water and sanitation in the national budget.
According to the National Water and Sanitation Council (NWASCO), access to water supply in urban areas stands at 86 percent, while in rural areas it is at 48 percent.
Daniel Nkhuwa, a geology lecturer in the School of Mines at the University of Zambia, suggested that the capital city should shift from Lusaka to another place where proper city planning will be possible.
He said there is need for a complete uproot of the capital city to some new location whose geology could allow for on-site sanitation system.
Professor Nkhuwa’s presentation was entitled: ‘Is sustainable urban water development and prevention of waterborne diseases attainable in Lusaka under its current sanitation practices?’ While a lot still needs to be done to correct the current situation, especially in Lusaka, efforts on the ground are slowly yielding fruit.
It is for this reason that Ministry of Water Development, Sanitation and Environmental Protection principal engineer for rural water supply and sanitation, Abel Manangi, called on engineers to influence change in the prevention of waterborne diseases through timely advice.
“We hope the team of engineers working with Government will consider re-planning or re-development of cities and slums where disease outbreaks are frequent,” Mr Manangi noted.

The first shipment of P&G product has already reached Lusaka, with a second shipment to be received within days.
In addition to distributing water purification supplies, CMMB will provide key water, sanitation, and hygiene (WASH) information to targeted families, as well as refer suspected cholera cases to local health facilities.
Batuke Walusiku-Mwewa, CMMB’s country director in Zambia says, “As a country, we are facing a very difficult time, one that creates a level of shame.
While acknowledging that there are actions that we may have benefited from doing much earlier, before we were hit by cholera, the fight needs to start with us, community members, at the household level.
We cannot afford to lose another life!
It is my humble plea that people, organizations and governments who have stood by us will continue to join hands with us as we fight this epidemic.” Bruce Wilkinson, CMMB President & CEO says, “Our partnership with P&G is essential.
P&G provides smart investments that stop the spread of cholera and provide solutions through education and access to clean water.
This disease can be eliminated quickly.
Investments in sanitation and clean water are the pathway to healthy communities, especially for the most vulnerable.” CMMB is joining a consortium led by the Zambian Ministry of Health that will implement an immediate anti-cholera vaccination campaign in the most affected urban and peri-urban areas of Lusaka.
CMMB’s emergency relief program quickly responds to dangerous situations, from conflict to natural disasters, by supporting affected communities with donated medicines, volunteers, and medical personnel, and by meeting emergency medical needs at partner health facilities.

Cholera cases in Yemen top 200,000 in world’s worst outbreak.
The number of cholera cases in Yemen has reached more than 200,000 and is increasing at the rate of 5,000 new cases a day, according to UN agencies.
In a joint statement released late last week, UNICEF and the World Health Organization said that 1,300 people have already died in what is the world’s worst cholera outbreak and a quarter of them have been children.
"We are working around the clock to detect and track the spread of disease and to reach people with clean water, adequate sanitation and medical treatment," they said.
"Collapsing health, water and sanitation systems have cut off 14.5 million people from regular access to clean water and sanitation, increasing the ability of the disease to spread," they said.
"Rising rates of malnutrition have weakened children’s health and made them more vulnerable to disease.
An estimated 30,000 dedicated local health workers who play the largest role in ending this outbreak have not been paid their salaries for nearly 10 months."
The organisations urged authorities in the country to pay the salaries of the workers and, "above all", to end the conflict between government forces, backed by a Saudi-led coalition, and the rebel Houthi movement which now control large parts of the country.
“We urge all authorities inside the country to pay these salaries and, above all, we call on all parties to end this devastating conflict.” It’s estimated that as many as 18.8 million people, of Yemen’s population of 28 million, need humanitarian assistance.
Almost 5,000 people have been killed in the war since March, 2015, with a further 8,500 injured, according to the UN.

Suspected cholera cases in Yemen Two years of intense conflict have exacted a heavy toll on the country’s health system, as well as on water and sanitation services, and we’re entering the peak season for the spread of diarrhoeal diseases in Yemen.
Cases of the disease have been confirmed in 19 of the country’s 23 governorates WHO and the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) are honing in on areas reporting the highest number of cases to stop the disease from spreading further.
Cholera vaccination?
The use of the oral cholera vaccine (OCV) is just one of the tools available to combat outbreaks.
Many aspects should be considered before a vaccination campaign: access to the people and places where the cholera is present, logistical constrains (for example availability of cold chain to store the vaccines safely), availability of the vaccines ( we have a worldwide stockpiles of 2 millions cholera vaccines to respond to many outbreak of choldra in different countries).
Treatment?
More information here: http://www.who.int/mediacentre/news/releases/2017/suspected-cholera-yeme… http://who.int/hac/crises/yem/en/ Circulating vaccine-derived poliovirus confirmed in Syria http://polioeradication.org/news-post/circulating-vaccine-derived-poliov… A circulating vaccine-derived poliovirus type 2 (cVDPV2) outbreak has been confirmed in the Deir-Ez-Zor Governorate of the Syrian Arab Republic.
The detection of the cases demonstrates that disease surveillance systems are functional in Syria.
This outbreak was successfully stopped; the now-detected cVDPV2 strain is unrelated to the WPV1 outbreak.
OPV has been a critical tool in eliminating 99.9% of polio cases worldwide, and while cVDPV is rare, the GPEI is actively working with countries to eradicate both vaccine-derived and wild polio.

Save the Children staff in Yemen are warning that a deadly cholera outbreak could become a full blown-epidemic, with more than 65,000 cases expected by the end of June at current rates. Yemen is seeing an average of more than 1,000 suspected cases of cholera a day, with nearly two out of three suspected of being children under 15 years. At least 242 people have already died from the spread of cholera and acute watery diarrhea (AWD) in the first three weeks of this outbreak. That’s 20 times more than the same period during the first wave in October 2016. The global humanitarian organization is warning the illness is spreading too fast to be brought under control without adequate resources. “If the cholera crisis isn’t brought under control by the start of the next rainy season in July, we could see deaths in the thousands rather than hundreds,” said Carolyn Miles, President & CEO of Save the Children. “Children whose bodies have been weakened by malnutrition are the most vulnerable to cholera/AWD and there are 2.2 million malnourished children in Yemen. Already, every ten minutes a child under five dies of preventable causes.” The upsurge comes as the health system, sanitation facilities and civil infrastructure have reached breaking point because of the ongoing war. Sanitation…