Maharashtra Communicable Diseases Prevention and Control Technical Committee was formed in May to design recommendations for preventive measures and surveillance of the communicable diseases like dengue, swine flu, leptospirosis in the state.
Could BMC have avoided 15 leptospirosis-caused deaths in the city? The state health department's communicable disease committee, which was formed two months ago, had anticipated an outbreak of leptospirosis in the city on the first day of the June deluge. The officer in-charge said that they had warned BMC and given them guidelines on how to manage the disease. Now, the committee, along with the Chief Minister, will be investigating whether the guidelines were followed by BMC or not.
Dr Satish Pawar, director of state health services in Maharashtra said, "We had anticipated the possibility of outbreak of leptospirosis in the city. A day after the deluge on June 19, we had alerted the local civic bodies in Mumbai and Konkan. Guidelines to deal with leptospirosis were also issued."
Maharashtra Communicable Diseases Prevention and Control Technical Committee was formed in May to design recommendations for preventive measures and surveillance of the communicable diseases like dengue, swine flu, leptospirosis in the state.
Mumbai has seen 15 deaths in the past ten days. "In Sindhudurg and Ratnagiri, we have succeeded in bringing down the mortality rate with the help of rigid surveillance and giving doxycycline capsules to people who are at high risk," said Dr Pawar.
As one of the preventive measures, the committee had asked the corporation to keep an eye on the leptospirosis cases. "Screening the people close to the person found positive for infection is one of the steps in the surveillance program," said Dr Subhash Salunke, chairman of the committee. The guidelines also included treatment protocol.
So far, of the 15 deaths recorded across public hospitals, the most were reported from the Western suburbs-six in Malad, two in Borivli, two in Kandivli and one in Dahisar.
According to doctors, the initial symptoms of leptospirosis infection include highly coloured urine, fever and muscle ache, which exacerbates into jaundice, drop in platelet count and later a possible kidney failure.
BMC health officials said that most of these patients came late to BMC-run hospitals. "We need to diagnose the infection early to start the treatment of the disease within the initial three to five days after onset of symptoms. A simple blood test and medication can render leptospirosis curable, provided it is picked up early. Then chances of recovery of a patient are higher," said Dr Padmaja Keskar of the BMC. The civic body has covered 6,253 houses and sprayed disinfectants in four building premises, five chawls and three waterlogged areas.
Seeing the rising number of leptospirosis infections, the BMC has set up a rapid response team. "The team has been formed under the epidemiology department and supported by local teams. It will track the cases, do the death investigation and contribute in the preventive activities," said Dr Keskar.
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