Cholera scare in Odisha’s Narla block after lab tests confirm presence of bacteria

Odisha Sun Times Bureau
Bhubaneswar, Sep 8:

Laboratory test of rectal swabs collected from patients in Narla block of Odisha’s Kalahandi district have confirmed the presence of deadly ‘vibrio cholerae’ in them, sources said.

Three persons have succumbed to cholera in the interior areas of Narla in the last 15 days after the disease spread in the block, reports said.

An elderly woman and two children are among the dead, reports added.

The district administration had sent rectal swabs of some patients to Bhubaneswar for laboratory tests after condition of around 120 persons afflicted with gastro enteritis turned serious between August 20 and September 5, reports said.

The suspicion that the deadly water borne bacteria has infected water sources in the Narla block and its adjoining areas has led to panic among the local people, said sources.

However, instead of taking measures to disinfect the water sources to check the spread of the killer disease, the local government officials are in the denial mode. They are trying their best to present the cholera deaths as cases of diarrhea and gastro enteritis, thus adding to the panic, sources added.

It is to be noted that the ‘vibrio cholerae’ bacteria had claimed several precious lives in Koraput and Rayagada districts in recent years.