Via The New Indian Express: Cholera scare as seven down with acute Diarrhoea. Excerpt:
Amidst the scare of dengue, cholera seems to have made a comeback in the city. The Chennai Corporation on Monday sealed a men’s hostel on Lang’s Garden Road after seven cases of Acute Diarrhoea Disease (ADD) were reported from there. The hostel was inspected and found to be in extremely unhygienic conditions.
Officials were alerted about the hostel when four people with the same address were admitted at the Communicable Diseases Hospital (CDH). Later, three more from the hostel were admitted. However, based on the water-drop test, all seven did not test positive for cholera, said corporation officials.
The hostel was inspected and found to be in an unhygienic condition. Two attached buildings were found to be overcrowded, housing 400 people in 44 rooms. Each 100-sqft room was shared by 10 people. There were only 10 bathrooms which were found to have inadequate water supply and sewage from the toilets was overflowing.
During the raid, more people were found to be suffering from diarrhoea and were also sent to CDH. Corporation officials said the building looked like it was over 50 years old and was in an extremely unstable condition. Renovation work also seemed to be in progress, noted an official.
Corporation officials also conducted a medical camp on the hostel campus and distributed doxycyclin to students suffering loose stools. The others are also being tested for cholera.
