Gastro epidemic strikes 1,700 in Dombivli village, polluted water blamed
Doctors transform homes, offices into makeshift hospitals; hope to keep jaundice and typhoid at bay.
Kiran Patil (19) has been laid low by gastroenteritis. His father Pandit 47 and sister Pratiksha 23 too exhibit symptoms peculiar to a norovirus attack: diarrhoea and vomiting. A few hundred metres from where the Pandit’s live, Nirmala Gautam’s family of three children and husband is confined to their home, struck by inflammation of the gastrointestinal tract.
In all, over 1,700 inhabitants of Dawdi village near Dombivli have contracted a stomach bug - the hamlet is home to 11,000 people, effectively compelling the district administration to declare the attack an epidemic.
Aday later, the experts had transformed a section of the gram panchayat headquarters, aone-storey structure, into a makeshift hospital. When this fell short of expectations, the unit turned to villagers for help. The sarpanch of the settlement, Jalindar Patil, allowed the team to convert his office, which houses a financial services firm, into a temporary health care cell - it accommodated six villagers and served as an out patient department. The furniture shop next door took in three ill residents of Dawdi. In the week since the outbreak of the gastroenteritis epidemic, several village homes and offices have turned ersatz clinics. When Mumbai Mirror visited the village, on Sunday, doctors were found canvassing door to door, offering assistance to the afflicted.
Village sarpanch Patil said the problem appeared to originate in Dawdi’s water supply. The 2,000 households receive their supply from the Maharashtra Industrial Development Corporation. The water is first stored in a subterranean sump and later pumped into an overhead tank, from where it is channelled to homes. “We are not sure what the source of contamination is. Right now the situation is worrisome as the number of people falling sick hasn’t stopped,” said Patil.
The district administration claims it has pressed water tankers into service to mitigate the problem. “We have tested water samples and most of them have been found to be unfit for consumption (the virological aspects of the samples collected are yet to be made available to officials),” said Kiran Suravse, tahsildar of Kalyan Taluka, which retains administrative authority over Dawdi. “We have advised people not to use water from the village tank as we are yet to stop the problem. For now we have sent out water tankers and full scale treatment is underway.”
Dr. Sonawane said the source of contamination has been identified. “Chlorine level in water supplied by MIDC was relatively low. The gram panchayat used to add chlorine to the water before distributing it. From the water samples we checked we found that at tail end of the village, chlorine level was very low and hence there was contamination,” he said. “The root cause of the problem is the distribution system in the village.”
By Monday evening the count of patients treated by district administration had crossed the 1,700 mark - this does not include those treated at private clinics or those who received care at the municipal hospital in Dombivli. Doctors are monitoring water samples for other diseases like jaundice and typhoid, which have incubation periods longer than gastroenteritis. “We have sent stool samples and water samples to make sure that it is curtailed at gastro,” said Dr. Sonawane. “We will get the results in the next two days.”
Kiran Patil (19) has been laid low by gastroenteritis. His father Pandit 47 and sister Pratiksha 23 too exhibit symptoms peculiar to a norovirus attack: diarrhoea and vomiting. A few hundred metres from where the Pandit’s live, Nirmala Gautam’s family of three children and husband is confined to their home, struck by inflammation of the gastrointestinal tract.
In all, over 1,700 inhabitants of Dawdi village near Dombivli have contracted a stomach bug - the hamlet is home to 11,000 people, effectively compelling the district administration to declare the attack an epidemic.
The virulent incursion began on October 28, when a batch of 200 villagers took ill, with each complaining of diarrhoea and vomiting and some reporting debilitating headache and fever, said Dr. B S Sonawane, district health officer of Thane. About 40 were admitted to the Shastri Nagar Hospital in Dombivli, run by the municipal corporation, while the others received treatment at private facilities in the vicinity. On October 29, the number breached the 500 mark, prompting the gram panchayat administration to appeal to the Thane district administration, which dispatched its health services team - a group of 12 doctors - to Dawdi.
Aday later, the experts had transformed a section of the gram panchayat headquarters, aone-storey structure, into a makeshift hospital. When this fell short of expectations, the unit turned to villagers for help. The sarpanch of the settlement, Jalindar Patil, allowed the team to convert his office, which houses a financial services firm, into a temporary health care cell - it accommodated six villagers and served as an out patient department. The furniture shop next door took in three ill residents of Dawdi. In the week since the outbreak of the gastroenteritis epidemic, several village homes and offices have turned ersatz clinics. When Mumbai Mirror visited the village, on Sunday, doctors were found canvassing door to door, offering assistance to the afflicted.
Village sarpanch Patil said the problem appeared to originate in Dawdi’s water supply. The 2,000 households receive their supply from the Maharashtra Industrial Development Corporation. The water is first stored in a subterranean sump and later pumped into an overhead tank, from where it is channelled to homes. “We are not sure what the source of contamination is. Right now the situation is worrisome as the number of people falling sick hasn’t stopped,” said Patil.
The district administration claims it has pressed water tankers into service to mitigate the problem. “We have tested water samples and most of them have been found to be unfit for consumption (the virological aspects of the samples collected are yet to be made available to officials),” said Kiran Suravse, tahsildar of Kalyan Taluka, which retains administrative authority over Dawdi. “We have advised people not to use water from the village tank as we are yet to stop the problem. For now we have sent out water tankers and full scale treatment is underway.”
Dr. Sonawane said the source of contamination has been identified. “Chlorine level in water supplied by MIDC was relatively low. The gram panchayat used to add chlorine to the water before distributing it. From the water samples we checked we found that at tail end of the village, chlorine level was very low and hence there was contamination,” he said. “The root cause of the problem is the distribution system in the village.”
By Monday evening the count of patients treated by district administration had crossed the 1,700 mark - this does not include those treated at private clinics or those who received care at the municipal hospital in Dombivli. Doctors are monitoring water samples for other diseases like jaundice and typhoid, which have incubation periods longer than gastroenteritis. “We have sent stool samples and water samples to make sure that it is curtailed at gastro,” said Dr. Sonawane. “We will get the results in the next two days.”
