Gastro cases fall by 49% in city
The city saw a 49 per cent fall in gastroenteritis cases in the last five years, according to the data provided by the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation’s (BMC) health department.
A senior official said that 765 cases of gastroenteritis were reported in October 2015, which fell to 386 in October 2019. However, no deaths were reported during this period.
Senior health officials said the cases reduced due to the continuous awareness spread among citizens and the three rounds of 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.
“The cases fell due to the advisory issued by BMC stating food and water-borne diseases are reasonably common during monsoon; especially when one eats outside food and faulty food habits lead to several infections in the body. 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 avoid drinking and eating outside. Drink boiled water and washing hands is a must before food,” said an official.
In 2015, Mumbai had recorded 765 cases of gastroenteritis, which further decreased to 513 in 2016. But the number slightly rose to 546 in 2017 and fell to 507 in 2018. The cases almost declined by 49 per cent in October 2019 by witnessing only 386 cases of gastroenteritis compared to 2015.
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 the civic wards. There were dispensaries who offered doxycycline treatment along with other medicines for 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 epidemiology department have ensured a drop in such cases,” said a health official.