Bangladesh blamed for cholera deaths in Orissa

Dec 13, 2007, 5:01 GMT

Bhubaneswar, Dec 13 (IANS) As India grapples with cross-border militant movement from Bangladesh, Indian scientists have detected another foe from that country - a virulent cholera strain that recently killed nearly 150 people in Orissa.

Scientists at the Regional Medical Research Centre (RMRC) here, a body under the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR), have found a hybrid strain, new to Orissa, in many cholera patients in the tribal belt of Rayagada, Koraput and Kalahandi.

'Two cholera organisms - elter and classical - were generally found in Orissa and the new organism is a hybrid. The new strain is virulent and is behind the death of many people in the state,' said S.K. Kar, director of RMRC, Bhubaneswar.

'Our initial research has found the root of the strain as Bangladesh. A lot of Bangladeshi labourers working in the industrial units and mines of the area are the carriers of this organism.

'Scientists have found the hybrid strain first in Africa and then in Bangladesh. Of the total cases studied so far, 56 percent of them have been infected by this virulent strain. It must have come with Bangladeshi labourers and spread through water and other means,' Kar told IANS.

Cholera is primarily water-borne but can also spread through food and faeces.

Another scientist at RMRC said that the entry of Bangladeshi labourers must be curbed. 'After terrorists, Bangladesh is sending cholera strains to India. In both cases, India is suffering and people are dying,' said the scientist.

Though Kar did not spell out the exact number of cases they have studied so far, he said: 'The important point here is the arrival of a new strain from our neighbouring country.

'We will continue our research on the new organism and prepare a report within one year,' he clarified.

Kar said the area has unhygienic living conditions and lacks proper drinking water. 'The new strain via Bangladeshi labourers, illiteracy coupled with sub-human living conditions has aggravated the situation.'

Cholera has wreaked havoc in the districts of Rayagada, Koraput and Kalahandi in the last few months, with Rayagada bearing the maximum brunt. According to official figures, nearly 150 people lost their lives in the cholera outbreak.

However, unofficial sources put the death toll at above 300.

In September, Orissa legislator Taraprasad Bahinipati had told IANS that he had a list of 250 people losing their lives to the disease in Koraput district alone.

'The government figures are totally false. In Koraput alone, more than 250 people have already died,' Bahinipati had said.

(Prashant K. Nanda can be contacted at: prashant.n@ians.in)

© 2007 Indo-Asian News Service