THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: A woman on Sunday died of leptospirosis(rat fever) in the flood-battered Kerala, taking the death toll due to the disease to 15.The risk of contaminating the disease is high during flooding.
Many leptospirosis patients become critical within three to four days of developing symptoms, leaving health department officials worried.
After the surfacing of leptospirosis cases in the flood-hit districts of Palakkad, Thrissur, Kozhikode, Malappuram and Kannur, the public health department sounded an alert on August 28 to the doctors.
Health experts suspect that this could be strain varying or total bacterial load increasing or changes in serological type.
According to officials at the Kozhikode Medical College hospital, the woman died on Sunday morning. As of Sunday, 40 cases of leptospirosis were reported in the state.
Health Minister K.K. Shailaja said there was no need to panic as the health department had taken all the necessary actions.
“Every hospital is stocked with all the required medicines.”The Minister advised people in the flood-hit areas to take precautions and a course of doxycycline.
The Directorate of Health Services has issued a leptospirosis alert after over 150 cases were reported in the flood-hit districts in the last few days due to the disease.
Availability of penicillin in the private sector is again an issue, it is pointed out. However, government hospitals have adequate supplies of CP.
The revised protocol has been circulated amongst doctors and in all professional associations such as the IMA and the IAP.Leptospirosis is easily preventable and curable when detected and treated early.
The Health Department is also trying to make available newer molecular diagnosis tests such as PCR tests for early detection of leptospirosis. However, clinical testing had very little significance in the case of leptospirosis, doctors said.
