At least 22 persons have been affected by jaundice in Odisha's coastal Kendrapara district, officials said today.
Confirmed and unconfirmed cases of jaundice have been reported in Malliksahi village under Kansara gram panchayat on the outskirts of Kendrapara district headquarters.
At least 14 cases are symptomatically confirmed as jaundice while seven others are suspected to be afflicted, said health department officials.
Medical teams have been rushed to the village and have taken a stock of the situation, said Additional District Medical Officer, MA Beig.
The blood samples of the affected villagers have been sent to microbiology department of SCB Medical College and Hospital, Cuttack. The samples of drinking water drawn have been dispatched to pathology and bacteriology departments of the hospital, he said.
The village has a population of 400. However, there is only one deep-dug tube well to meet with drinking water requirement of the said villagers.
Contaminated drinking water led to the outbreak. Sources of drinking water are being disinfected, the health officials said.
A three-member Central health team visited Odisha's western district of Sambalpur after jaundice outbreak hit the city claiming at least 17 lives and infecting 1921 persons.
Several leakages in main drinking water pipelines at Jeypore in Odisha's Koraput district have triggered fear of outbreak of diseases.
