Posted on 08/12/2005 4:32:43 AM PDT by Our_Man_In_Gough_Island
At least 70 people have died of water-borne diseases in the western Indian state of Maharashtra which was badly hit by floods two weeks ago. Health officials say more than 5,000 people are suffering from high fever and cholera.
But they say that leptospirosis, a disease spread through rats, caused many of the deaths.
The floods killed more than 1,000 people and affecting 20 million others in the state and its capital, Mumbai.
Reports say some hospitals are unable to cope with the flow of patients, with some lying on floors as beds run out.
"We're finding more and more cases of people with shooting fevers who are collapsing," senior health official P Doke is quoted as saying by AFP.
Piles of garbage
Leptospirosis is causes by exposure to water contaminated by rats urine, and outbreaks are known to occur in the monsoon season.
An outbreak of water borne diseases was expected Health officials say they are concerned but there is no threat of an epidemic.
Residents in some of the flood-hit areas have clashed with civic officials, complaining that garbage in the areas had not been cleared and was spreading disease.
The authorities say they are doing their best to clean up.
Correspondents say most of the victims live in shantytowns where flood and sewage water had entered homes.
Some 300 medical teams have been sent across the state to combat the spread of disease.
Civic authorities and politicians were severely criticised after the recent flooding for failing to provide proper drainage systems and other flood protection measures.
Here is a prior legacy thread on the Bombay monsoon floods:
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1457508/posts
I was actually there in Mumbai during the floods. Saw it all first hand.
I even posted a thread from there.
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-bloggers/1452418/posts
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