August 22 (Odisha.in) With floods engulfing about four lakh people of 25 Gram Panchayats of Rajkanika ,Aul, and Rajnagar blocks in Kendrapada district and 28 Gram Panchayats in Bari and Rasulpur, blocks of Jajpur district, the fears of an epidemic outbreak looming large over the flood-affected villages .
“To counter an outbreak of an epidemic in marooned areas , we have kept medical teams on high alert”, said Usha Tripathy ,the Chief District Medical Officer(CDMO) of Kendrapada.
The riverside villages that got devastated by heavy downpour and deluge last week is now facing serious outbreak of leptospirosis and dengue.
At least two thousand flood hits including many children were affected with the suspected leptospirosis (a bacterial infection) and dengue in the past two days.
“The incidence was high and of epidemic proportion but we have enough medical infrastructure and drug supply to combat it”, said the CDMO.
Retired physician, Dr G. Das of Kendrapada said heavy floods were often followed by epidemics because of contamination of sources of drinking water. Another cause was being in water for long hours.
“Laptospirosis , a bacterial disease , is spread by the urine of infected animals and is generally not communicated by infected humans.
Many animals died during the flood and thousands of people had to walk through the flooded roads in marooned areas. The symptoms are fever, headache, chills, vomiting, jaundice, anaemia and something rash, said Dr Das.
The incessant rain due to low pressure in the Bay of Bengal for last week caused flood and devastated riverside villages of both the districts and its nearby areas.
The spurt in the incidences have been reported in the worst-flood affected villages like Iswarpur, Bandhapada, Ostia, Mahulia, Kandara, Chakibanka, Naladia and about 30 villages of Rajnagar block of the district, said Jagabandhy Nayak the former block chairman of Rajnagar.
The torrential rains followed by flood in major rivers and their tributaries in the district and its nearby areas has forced large number of riverside villagers to move to higher areas, at some places rooftops of houses, and higher places to escape from the rising waters.
Nearly two lakh people have been affected in Kendrapada district and its nearby areas due to continuous rainfall that has left many villages and low land areas marooned, electric lines, hanging precariously in places and roads waterlogged.
Large numbers of vipers were also found roaming in the flood-affected areas.
Hundreds of tube-wells and wells are submerged in flood water. In many villages they are being compelled to drink polluted water.
Odisha.in