Rain diseases kill two more

'Malaria, lepto are caused by dirty surroundings'.
 
Two people died in municipal hospitals between Saturday morning and Sunday evening — one of suspected leptospirosis and one of an unspecified fever.

On Sunday the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) recorded 345 admissions with various diseases — 32 with diarrhoea, vomiting, gastroenteritis; 19 with jaundice; 18 of 'suspected leptospirosis'; 10 of 'suspected dengue'; 58 with malaria and 208 with fever.

Doctors say malaria and leptospirosis are diseases caused by dirty surroundings. But such diseases should not occur in a city aspiring to become a Shanghai, said Dr Arun Bal, a doctor and public health activist. "It is shameful even if one person dies of leptospirosis in the city. It should not happen in a modern city. If it happens they cannot say Mumbai is a modern city. It is no better than a village," he said.

On Friday, municipal officials had said there was nothing to worry. "This is common at this time of the year and there is no need to panic," additional municipal commissioner Vijaysinh Patankar had said.

Health experts said waterborne diseases are endemic to the city. "Many of the waterborne diseases are endemic in Mumbai, and we keep getting cases all through the year. Over the past 10 years, there has been no rise or decrease in the number of waterborne diseases in the city," said Dr Ashish Tiwari, physician, Bombay Hospital.

Gastroenteritis, hepatitis, amebiosis (a form of diarrhoea), typhoid, leptospirosis, and cholera are the main waterborne diseases.

Dr Vijay Panjabi, vice-president of General Practitioners' Association, said, "This is a regular feature around this time of the year. We start getting cases of diarrhoea, high fever, typhoid, and jaundice throughout the monsoon."