Thaindian News

Lucknow, Aug 29 (IANS) With thousands of people affected by diarrhoea, malaria, gastroenteritis and even a mysterious disease that has claimed at least 135 lives, Uttar Pradesh has sounded a statewide health alert. “Since January, the state has been grappling with diseases like diarrhoea, gastroenteritis, measles, malaria and such. Taking this into account, we have sounded the alert across Uttar Pradesh,” I.S. Srivastava, director general (medical and health), told IANS.

Doctors in the state will now make door-to-door visits in the affected villages. Fogging and spraying of insecticides will be undertaken on a war-footing, he added.

The Kanpur division is grappling with a mysterious disease that has claimed about 135 lives in four weeks, officials said Friday. This disease has symptoms similar to that of malaria and is accompanied by high fever.

Since January, diarrhoea has affected over 7,000 people, of whom 94 have died. Likewise, out of the 570 people infected by gastroenteritis, 15 have died, say officials.

In east Uttar Pradesh, acute encephalitis syndrome (AES) has infected over 900 people, of which 160 have died. Cases of jaundice and kala azar have also been reported, according to health records.

The worst affected districts include Kanpur Dehat (Akbarpur), Muzaffarnagar, Maharajganj, Siddharthnagar, Mau, Azamgarh, Balrampur and Gorakhpur.

“Directions have been issued to the chief medical officers to disinfect all sources of drinking water, especially wells and hand pumps,” said Srivastava.