Khurda: An outbreak of jaundice has been reported at the Jawahar Navodaya Vidyalaya (JNV) at Gurujang in Odisha’s Khurda district with around 30 students testing positive.
As per information, all of these students have been sent home by the residential school authorities after preliminary treatment. Test reports of 100 other students who were down with fever are awaited. They have also been sent home.
According to Vice-Principal N C Chakra, health screening was done after some students complained of i
ll health around a week ago. Some students complained of cold, fever and jaundice-like symptoms. After initial medical treatment, they were sent to their homes, where they tested positive for jaundice, he said. Subsequently, the symptoms were seen in other students.
A medical team visited the school on Sunday to assess the situation and conducted health check-ups of other students on the campus. The school has 569 students.
While water contamination is suspected to be behind the outbreak, school authorities said that samples from the overhead and submerged tanks on the school campus were tested, and the results did not point to any kind of contamination.
The school tanks were cleaned twice last year, during summer and winter vacations. All measures are being taken to curb further spread of the disease. Food samples were also collected for tests, and awareness camps are being held to maintain hygiene.