An epidemic outbreak of Vibrio Cholerae El Tor 01 serotype ogawa biotype in a Lalpur town, Jamnagar, India.

BACKGROUND

On December 19, 2010, 57 cases of gastroenteritis were reported in the community health center of Lalpur town. A rapid response team was sent to investigate the outbreak on December 21, 2010.

AIM

To identify the source, to institute control and prevention measures.

MATERIALS AND METHODS

The outbreak was confirmed using the previous Integrated Integrated Disease Surveillance Project (IDSP) data. Detailed history was taken, line listing of patients and house-to-house investigations were done. Environmental investigation and laboratory investigation of stool samples were also done. As the study was conducted during emergency response to the outbreak and was designed to provide information to orient the public health response, ethical approval was not required. Remedial measures were implemented.

RESULTS

Three hundred and thirty cases were reported during December 19, 2010 to January 2, 2011 in Lalpur town of Jamnagar district. Nineteen patients were found to be positive for Vibrio Cholerae 01 serotype ogawa biotype out of 117 stool samples. The mean age of patients was 24.23 ± 19.01 years. The outbreak had 1.88% attack rate with no mortality and 59.1% cases had to be admitted. Investigations revealed that the epidemic was waterborne. Ten leakages were found in the pipelines of the affected areas of Lalpur town near two riverbanks.

CONCLUSION

Among identified gaps, delays in the initiation of the investigation of the epidemic and repairing of leakages were most important. In India, waterborne epidemics are usual occurrences during the year. In this scenario, the village health and sanitation committee and water board should follow guidelines, and monitoring of water sources, proper sewage disposal and sanitation measures should be undertaken.