ITANAGAR, 25 Jun: The Longding PHE&WS division has stated that it conducted a fact-finding inquiry into the recent diarrhoea outbreak in Konsa village in Longding district which claimed the lives of two children, and found that the cases were not related to the quality of drinking water.
In an official release, Longding PHE&WS Division Executive Engineer Tage Nipa on Tuesday informed that a team from the department went to Konsa village and inspected the water supply system immediately after receiving a letter from the district medical officer on 20 June.
The EE stated that “the team collected the water samples from the water treatment plants and tested the samples at the divisional laboratory in Longding for any bacteriological contamination.
“The team also disinfected the water supply system after collecting the samples. The water samples collected tested negative for presence of any diarrhoeal causing bacteria. The water testing of samples done with FTK by a trained woman of the village also tested negative for bacteriological contamination,” he said, adding that water samples from the village have been sent to the state water testing laboratory in Itanagar for confirmation.
Nipa stated that he, along with his team, visited Konsa village and had a meeting with the chief and the VWSC members of the village.
“The chief of Konsa village informed that a child fell ill and unfortunately expired within a short period and they suspect it to be a case of food poisoning. But after the funeral of the child, when the relatives of the deceased family began to fall ill, he got alarmed and informed the medical department. He ruled out the spread of disease by drinking water from the village water supply system. He also informed that if the drinking water could be the cause of the diarrhoea, the disease would not have been limited to two or three families out of 134 families,” the EE added.
The EE further informed that the epidemiologist’s report suggested many other reasons for the outbreak of diarrhoea in the area. “However, the department is taking all precautions to contain any water-borne diseases by aggressive awareness and disinfecting the water supply system,” he said.
Nipa added that “no further spread of disease has been reported in the village.”
