Speaking to a parliamentary team that arrived in Nepalgunj to assess the situation on Sunday, health workers stressed on the urgent need for an alternative water source. [break]
"Water supplied by Nepal Water Corporation (NWC) is polluted because its pipeline has given way at many places," senior public health official Dhir Jung Shah said. "We cannot control the outbreak completely if we continue drinking the same water."
Although the number of cholera patients has dwindled in recent days, health workers say locals are still not out of danger. As the bacteria called vibrio cholerae has been found in stool sample of cholera patients, according to Shah, the outbreak could take a turn for the worse anytime. “Once vibrio cholerae is traced, it is difficult to contain cholera," Shah said.
Local leaders have urged the government to replace the existing water supply pipelines in Nepalgunj. In the past two weeks, seven people -- five of them children -- have died of cholera.
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