Bhubaneswar, January 13: Two cases of jaundice have been reported at a school in Odisha's Dhenkanal district, prompting local health authorities to step up precautionary measures.
Dhenkanal Chief District Medical and Public Health Officer (CDM & PHO) Sanjaya Mohapatra said there was no outbreak of jaundice at present and asserted that the situation remained under control.
"There is no outbreak of jaundice till now, and we are working to prevent it. The situation is under control. We had information about two cases of jaundice at the school," Mohapatra said. He added that a joint team comprising officials from the health and education departments has visited the school to assess the situation.
"Today, I have come here with the District Education Officer, officials from the Rural Water Supply Scheme, the Food Safety Officer and microbiologists. We are collecting food and water samples from here to find out if there is any contamination of water or food," he said.
The alert comes after a recent jaundice outbreak at Jawahar Navodaya Vidyalaya (JNV) i Gurujanga in Khordha district, which heightened state-level monitoring. Authorities said they are closely tracking the situation at Bishwanathpur Adarsha School and will act if more cases emerge.
On January 10, Public Health Director Dr. Nilkantha Mishra said no new cases have been reported and linked rising infections to contaminated water. He added that steps are underway to decontaminate the water supply to prevent further spread.
