The Hindu   08.08.2012

Corporation in denial mode as infections spread

The death of a five-year-old child in Meenambal Nagar in Tondiarpet has put Chennai Corporation on the back foot. The mentally-challenged child was admitted to the Government Stanley Hospital with cold, cough, fever and diarrhoea, and passed away on Friday.

Immediately after his death, Chennai Corporation’s health officials admitted his siblings to the Communicable Diseases Hospital in Tondairpet. A release from the Corporation said the children, all between the ages of six years and 18 months, were tested for cholera and since the tests results were negative, they were discharged and sent home on Tuesday.

While the Corporation has tried to assuage people’s fears of bacterial infections, blood samples of a resident of South Boag Road were sent to King Institute of Preventive Medicine on suspicion that she might have leptospirosis. She was hospitalised last week. Two days ago, the test results showed up positive for leptospirosis.

Mohamed Ali, director of Weil and Pasteur Lepto Lab in Raja Annamalaipuram, said the laboratory had seen a 20 per cent increase in number of samples received for testing. Dr. Ali said the samples were mostly from Madhavaram and Kodungaiyur areas where many hospitals specialised in treatment of leptospirosis.

The bacterial infection is generally associated with the rainy season and is caused due to exposure to contaminated stagnant water. But now, his lab received samples even during peak summer, Dr. Ali said.

“When there is rain, contamination spreads faster but water infected with bacteria from rats, cattle or stray dogs, can also spread the infection,” he said.

Leptospire, the bacteria that causes leptospirosis, needs water or moisture to survive. When an infected rat or bandicoot urinates in a dry place, the organism dies, but in wet conditions, it survives for 2-4 weeks and can infect animals and human-beings.

According to a senior Corporation health official, the civic body’s workers have been asked to identify rat burrows along beaches, in godowns, warehouses and railway tracks, and take steps to eliminate the rodents.

Two days ago, a woman’s blood sample tested positive for leptospirosis