19 villagers hospitalised due to gastroenteritis in Rajouri

At least 19 people have been hospitalised due to gastroenteritis in Rajouri district, officials on Friday said. Several others have been treated for this illness by a mobile medical team in Sakri village of the district, they said.

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The health department, the officials said, has attributed the outbreak to water contamination after E.coli was found in water samples from the area. According to official details, 19 villagers from Sakri were brought to the Government Medical College Hospital, Rajouri, over the past 72 hours.

All patients complained of diarrhoea and other gastroenteritis symptoms, with a few also experiencing partial unconsciousness, they said.

Among them, two patients have been referred to the GMC Hospital in Jammu for specialised treatment, they said.

The officials said that medical teams immediately swung into action and collected water samples consumed by the villagers. The presence of E.coli was confirmed in the samples, marking it as another case of waterborne contamination similar to the Kotli Bagla incident two weeks ago in which 30 people had fallen ill.