LUDHIANA – A rise in the incidence of waterborne diseases has been witnessed in the state over the past two years.
Several cases of hepatitis-A and hepatitis-E were reported from Jalandhar, Amritsar and Pathankot districts while Nawanshahr district saw the outbreak of jaundice in December last and January.
The Punjab nodal officer for Integrated Diseases Surveillance Project, Dr Deepak Bhatia, said: “In 2011, as many as 212,459 cases of diarrhoea were reported in the state as compared to 1,09,781 cases in 2010.”
In 2010, 27,767 cases of enteric fever were reported, the count of which rose to 32,721 the next year.
However, the count of people affected with hepatitis-A and E came down from 1,562 cases in 2010 to 1,258 cases a year later. Dr Bhatia said the main precautions to keep waterborne diseases at bay include washing hands properly before eating food, consuming clean water and maintaining hygiene.
