Diarrhoea: E coli found in 12 water samples in Kapurthala

Aparna Banerji
Tribune News Service
Jalandhar, July 31
Bacterial contamination has been found to be the cause for the diarrhoea outbreak which claimed several lives in Kapurthala in one week.
As many as 12 samples collected by the Health Department in wake of diarrhoea outbreak in Sunder Nagar failed the quality test. These samples were taken from Sunder Nagar, Bakar Khana and Kadupur areas of Kapurthala on July 26 and 27.
E.coli was the key bacterial contaminant found in all these samples.

11 new cases reported

• 11 new Diarrhoea cases were reported in Kapurthala. Seven patients were admitted at the Civil Hospital.
• Civil Surgeon said all 12 samples that failed tests had been collected from homes of victims

After the MC teams swung into action, leaks and sources of contamination were fixed in the area. Five samples collected from these areas subsequently on July 28 have passed the quality test. Water supply was resumed at Sunder Nagar today.
Five persons had died (one in Sheikhupur, rest in Sunder Nagar) in Kapurthala after a diarrhoea outbreak and seven tested positive for cholera. They have been discharged now.
In all, the Health Department and Municipal Corporation collected 281 water samples in wake of the outbreak of which 29 were collected by the former and 252 by the latter. Of these, barring the 12 failed ones, all others passed the quality test. The result of some is awaited. Surprisingly, not a single MC sample failed the purity test.
Health sources in Kapurthala informed The Tribune that presence of E. coli bacteria was found in all 12 water samples which failed the test.
Municipal Commissioner, Kapurthala, Anupam Kler, today visited the affected area and drank water from a home, signalling that water of Sunder Nagar was now fit for consumption.
Civil Surgeon Dr Surinder Kaur said, “In the subsequent tests on July 28, all water samples tested negative for contaminants. The reports of five samples arrived today which have passed the test. Water supply was also resumed in the area today at 4 pm. The number of patients has subsided.”