Hamirpur (HP), Mar 14 (PTI) Thirty-four new cases of diarrhoea were reported in Tauni Devi block of Hamirpur district on Thursday taking the total caseload in the area in the past four days to 404, officials said.
Of the total 404 patients, 105 are active cases of which five patients are undergoing treatment at Tauni Devi Hospital, said Hamirpur Chief medical Officer (CMO) Dr RK Agnihotri, adding that the rest have recovered.
As per a latest report, four water samples of the area have been found unfit for human consumption and further details are awaited, he added.
He appealed to the people to drink only boiled water to remain healthy and fit.
The Himachal Pradesh government on Wednesday constituted a team of health experts to investigate the reasons behind the diarrhoea outbreak in Tauni Devi, the officials said.
The team interacted with the patients at Tauni Devi Civil Hospital and also collected water samples from the affected areas, they said.
The district health department team has also sent stool samples of the patients from affected areas to Medical College, Tanda, for testing.
The diarrhoea outbreak is reported in 31 villages of 13 panchayats including villages of Gwaradu, Lohakhar, Tauni Devi, Chahad, Tapre, Bari, Mahade, Ghalot, Siswa, Barin, Khandehra, Ladayoh and Jhanikkar, the officials said.
“Three days ago I suddenly felt pain in my abdomen followed by vomiting after which I started taking medicines at home, but when I got to know that diarrhoea has spread on a large scale, I went to the hospital on Monday,” a male patient in his 30s told PTI.
It is for the third time that a diarrhoea outbreak has been witnessed in Hamirpur district in the past 14 months. In January 2023, about 1,000 people were affected by diarrhoea in the Rangas area of Nadaun, the assembly constituency of Chief Minister Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu.
Diarrhoea again spread for the second time in ten panchayats adjoining Hamirpur town in June 2023. PTI COR BPL RPA
