Many residents of Kanakapura Road apartment fall sick; civic body suspects viral diarrhea

Many residents of Prestige Falcon City apartment community on Kanakapura Road have fallen ill over the past few weeks. Many have developed stomach ache, diarrhoea and vomiting.

Avnidhar Hawaldar, a resident, said that multiple members of his family were affected and they had to be administered saline at a nearby nursing home due to weakness and fatigue. “Nearby hospitals are full of residents of our community. Even the hospital on the apartment premises has reported multiple cases,” he said.

No outbreak

A medical team from Bengaluru South City Corporation has been camping at the apartment community with a population of over 9,000 from November 12, when they first got an alert.

Kumar M.V., Medical Officer, South City Corporation, camping at the apartment community, said there have been sporadic cases from October 6, recorded at the hospital inside the apartment complex. The hospital on the campus reported a total of 46 gastroenteritis cases between October 6 and November 12. “There are only sporadic cases and there has been no outbreak. We suspect there is a prevalence of viral diarrhoea,” he said.

Water contamination?

Mansoor Ali, another resident, said they suspected that there was an infection spreading through the community due to contamination of water sources.

Corporation officials have taken multiple water samples from the inlet, borewells, storage tanks and taps. “We have sent the samples to the Public Health Institute on Thursday and the reports are awaited. As of now there is no confirmation that it is water-borne,” Dr. Kumar said.

Vasant Kumar, president, Prestige Falcon City Residents’ Welfare Association, told The Hindu that they had got water samples tested at a private lab and the reports did not find any anamolies in the water samples. “However, we have cleared out all the stored water, got the storage tanks cleaned and disinfected. We have also stopped tanker water from outside for now,” he said.

Further, the corporation officials have instructed dos and don’ts to the community members, including using boiled and cooled water to drink.