28 jaundice cases in Kerala’s Kozhikode, ‘health squad’ formed to contain outbreak

The outbreak has been narrowed down to a function which all the persons had attended.
28 jaundice cases in Kerala’s Kozhikode, ‘health squad’ formed to contain outbreak
28 jaundice cases in Kerala’s Kozhikode, ‘health squad’ formed to contain outbreak

In a span of two days, 28 people in the district of Kozhikode in Kerala have been confirmed to have jaundice.

Dr Jayashree, Kozhikode District Medical Officer, stated in a press release that a ‘health squad’ with health activists had been formed and that the Health Department’s district level task force would hold a meeting on Wednesday to assess the situation.  

At present, the public have been told to take precautionary measures and have been advised to maintain hygiene when preparing and eating food.

Jaundice is a manifestation of underlying liver disease and is commonly seen in hepatitis, a condition in which the liver is inflamed and is usually due to a viral infection or liver damage brought on by excessive alcohol intake.

People often present with abdominal pain, vomiting, and fever and can sometimes be mistaken as having food poisoning.

Speaking to TNM, Dr Sarita RL, state Director of Health Services said, “We are still investigating the source of the outbreak, all the affected people had attended a function and we are yet to pinpoint whether it spread from contaminated water, ice, or through someone who handled the food.”

She also added that a special team was being sent to Kozhikode to investigate the matter further. “We have spoken with the District Medical Officer, who has been on the field since the beginning and has already worked to establish squads of 5 to 6 people to inform the public about containment measures.”

In addition, officials have taken steps to chlorinate wells and also go to schools to address students about good hygiene practices and preventive measures.

“We have started to trace all the people who had gone to the function in order to identify the source and are confident that we will be able to contain it,” added Dr Sarita.

She confirmed to TNM that the tally of those who have been found to have jaundice is now 28.

Earlier in April, it was reported that the district was seeing a steady rise in the number of Hepatitis A cases, after 17 confirmed cases were reported in Kozhikode. Officials had then attributed contaminated water to having caused the spike in the number of cases.

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