The corporation has requested Mumbaikars not to consume water from unidentified sources. "One should drink boiled or disinfected water, and wash leafy vegetables and salads thoroughly before consumption," said Keskar.
The city has witnessed a rise in leptospirosis, hepatitis and typhoid cases in 2016 compared to 2015, says Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC). Hepatitis alone has seen 797 cases between January to June this year as compared to 582 cases during the same period last year.
"This year, we have seen more of hepatitis cases as compared to 2015 during the same period. We found that maximum hepatitis cases were reported from F/South (Parel), H/East (Santa Cruz), L Ward (Kurla) and M/East (Deonar)," said Dr Padmaja Keskar, executive health officer BMC.
On Sunday, a 5-year-old boy from Wadala lost his life to hepatits. Hepatitis A and E are mainly transmitted through faecal-oral route caused by ingestion of contaminated food or water and due to lack of personal hygiene. "We have screened around 1,095 people for jaundice-like symptoms in 216 houses. We did not find any cases suggestive of jaundice in the surrounding area," Keskar added.
The BMC health department also found more number of typhoid cases in Parel, Sant Cruz, Ghatkopar-East, Chembur. "In 2015, for January to June period, there were 531 cases of typhoid reported. This year, in last six months, BMC hospitals have reported 712 typhoid cases," said Keskar.
The corporation has requested Mumbaikars not to consume water from unidentified sources. "One should drink boiled or disinfected water, and wash leafy vegetables and salads thoroughly before consumption," said Keskar.
Every monsoon, municipal hospitals see a 25 per cent rise in number of patients. Doctors explain that in Mumbai the water-borne diseases are high because of two reasons — contamination of water and eating out habit of people. "Mumbaikars love to eat at roadside stall which is one of the major reasons of rising water-borne diseases. Gastroenteritis is the most common water-borne illnesses," said Dr Pratit Samdhani, physician at Jaslok Hospital.
BMC's health report also shows a rise in leptospirosis cases. "Last year between January and June 2015, we saw 5 cases. This year, there have been 30 cases. Since January, our pesticide department has killed 9,187 rats," said Keskar.
The corporation has visited 239 cattle sheds in Mumbai and have educated cattle shed owners on getting vaccination and medicines for their animals. The BMC has also made it compulsory for the dog owners to get their pet leptospirosis vaccination before renewing the pet license. It has asked the animal husbandry department to carry out vaccination drives on animals.
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