Jaundice breaks out in Kochi

KOCHI: Infectious water-borne diseases are on the rise in Kochi. An acute drinking water shortage in many parts of the city has added to the grave situation. As per official statistics, so far two cases of death owing to jaundice have been reported from various part of Kochi.A total of 36 cases of Hepatitis A and E have been reported from various parts of Ernakulam during the last two to three weeks. Realising the gravity of the situation, the Health Department has already launched measures to deal with the spread of water-borne diseases.“So far we have identified a couple of people infected with Hepatitis A and E. We have already taken precautionary measures. The Health Department has  been carrying out awareness programmes in this regard. The number of cases has come down owing to the effective measures we adopted,” said Ernakulam District Medical Officer Dr Sudhakaran.The number of people reporting to various hospitals with fever has also increased in the past couple of days. Meanwhile, Ernakulam General Hospital Superintendent Dr Junaid Rehman said there is no extraordinary increase in the number of fever cases reported at the hospital.  “There is no major increase in the number of people reported with water-borne diseases. However, we don’t  know about the periphery. There could be incidents at other parts of the district,” he said.The DMO said that as of now there is no alarming situation in the district.