KARACHI, June 30: Of the 29 samples of water, taken from different areas of Landhi in the wake of the gastro-enteritis outbreak in the locality last week, 24 have been declared as ‘unfit for human consumption. The samples were submitted to a government-run laboratory for a test.
According to the report of the tests, the samples contained high concentrations of Coliform group of bacteria, said the EDO health, Ali Nawaz Shah.
Talking to Dawn on Monday at one of the emergency camps set up in the affected areas, he stated that the samples found fit for human consumption also had traces of the bacteria. “It’s clear that people who died in the outbreak had suffered from water-borne diseases,” he said.
“I have worked in the interior of Sindh for more than a decade and seen similar tragedies taking place there. So I can say from the experience that the outbreak was caused by contaminated water.”
Meanwhile, the tests performed on stool samples of a 13-year-old girl, Noor Bibi, who was taken to the Liaquat National Hospital (LNH) on Friday after falling prey to the outbreak, suggested that cholera might have caused the outbreak.
Dr Suhail Ashraf of the LNH paediatrics department told Dawn that the girl’s routine laboratory tests had shown that cholera could not be ruled out. When he was told that some tests had suggested the presence of Coliform group of bacteria in the water consumed by the residents of the affected areas, he reminded that cholera and this bacteria group were both water-borne. “This means that it is the water which is responsible for the outbreak of gastro-enteritis in Muslimabad which claimed eight lives.”
Dr Altaf Ahmed of the LNH and the officials of the Infectious Diseases Society of Pakistan had the same opinion. In response to a question, Dr Ahmed expressed the fear of a similar outbreak in other parts of Karachi unless mixing of sewage and other pollutants with the potable water in conduits was checked.
Dr Shakeel A. Siddiqui of the Government Hospital Korangi No 5 was of the view that the people of Landhi had fallen victim to a combination of infections. “What is clear is that people are suffering from a disease which badly affects stomach and intestines.
“Now, some tests indicate the presence of the Coliform group of bacteria in the water while at least one test shows that cholera may be involved. There is only one explanation for this — a mix of infections may have caused the outbreak.”
Answering a question, he said professional bodies and doctors’ forums should have moved in immediately after the outbreak of gastro-enteritis to find out what exactly had caused the outbreak in Landhi.
“Had the professional bodies started their work promptly, the exact cause would have been determined by now. This would also have enabled us to decide what to do next to avoid a recurrence.”
Meanwhile, it has been gathered from the interviews with many residents of Landhi that complaints regarding mixing of water and sewage had been lodged by them as many as four months prior to the outbreak.
Aurangzeb, a young man whose wife and two children had fallen sick reportedly after consuming contaminated water, produced a copy of the complaint filed collectively by the residents of his locality with various city government offices. The people had demanded replacement of the old pipelines in Muslimabad with new ones.
Two of the residents, Dr Rasheed Zaman and Behram Dad, said that a tender had been floated for the laying of new pipelines some three months back. However, due to some unknown reasons, the work could not be started as per the schedule.