Mumbai: Not only did the number of gastroenteritis cases in the city fall by 39 per cent in the last five years, there were no deaths reported either, according to data provided by the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation’s (BMC) health department.
A health official said 910 cases of gastroenteritis were reported in January 2015, which fell to 554 in January 2020.
The drop in the number of cases could be due to the continuous awareness programmes for citizens and surveys conducted by BMC in slums and slum-like areas, asking them to take several precautions and avoid outside or contaminated food during the monsoon. BMC had also issued an advisory, warning that food and waterborne diseases were common during the monsoon and that consuming outside food and poor eating habits could make one prone to infection.
“The consumption of contaminated food can cause diarrhoea, vomiting, abdominal pain, fever and food poisoning. The best measure to avoid suffering from all this is to resist eating and drinking outside. Drinking boiled water and washing hands is a must before touching food,” said a health official.
In 2015, Mumbai had recorded 910 cases of gastroenteritis, which decreased to 897 in 2016, further dropping to 635 in 2017 but rising to 732 in 2018. However, until January 2020, there were only 554 such cases.
Dr Padmaja Keskar, executive health officer, public health department, said that community awareness with information, education and communication (IEC) on the symptoms was organised across civic wards. There were dispensaries which offered doxycycline and other fever medication to all fever patients, to minimise leptospirosis and gastro cases.
“Activities like daily disease surveillance, early diagnosis and treatment, implementation of immediate control measures, IEC activities, prompt analysis of reports and management guidelines by the epidemiology department have ensured a drop in such cases,” said a health official.
Dr Om Shrivastava, an infectious diseases expert, said the sudden change in temperatures makes the body vulnerable to certain diseases. A constant oscillation between hot, humid and wet weather makes it conducive for microorganisms to reproduce and thrive.
“People need to see a doctor immediately, if they feel under the weather, as the symptoms are quite similar to those of dengue, malaria, leptospirosis, gastroenteritis and chikungunya. They should take medication as prescribed by the doctor and not attempt any home remedies,” he added.
