18 February 2010, 23:00
Over 200 children hospitalized with symptoms of intestinal infection in Makhachkala
Yesterday and today the Republic's Central Infectious Hospital of Makhachkala received 79 children - aged from newborns to 6 years - with the diagnosis of acute intestinal disease. Under preliminary data, the outbreak could be caused by recent failures of potable water supplies by the pumping station.
According to Sagibat Magomedova, head of the Epidemic Department of the Hospital, now the infection agent is being revealed by the laboratory, while the condition of the children is from light to medium gravity.
The "Caucasian Knot" has reported that an outbreak of mass poisoning in Dagestan was registered a month ago in the city of Kaspisk. On January 13, after breakfast, pupils of kindergarten No. 17 "Buratino" began complaining of stomach pains, weakness and nausea. 44 children aged from 3 to 6 were hospitalized to the infectious ward of the Kaspisk City Hospital with diagnosis of "food poisoning". Six patients were rather grave. On January 19, all the children were discharged in satisfactory condition.
Several districts of the city remained without water for some time, then, non-purified water could get into the water distribution system. The reasons of the outbreak are cleared out by experts of the local "Rospotrebnadzor" (Federal Service for Consumer Supervision), as reported by the ITAR-TASS.
According to the "Infox.ru", which refers to a source from the "Rospotrebnadzor", in the last week the Republic's Infectious Hospital of Makhachkala took over 200 Dagestan children with acute intestinal infection.
Meanwhile, the Chief Department of the Ministry for Emergencies of the Republic Dagestan does not confirm the information about mass hospitalization of children with suspicion of an intestinal infection. "We have no information about mass hospitalization of children. Any epidemiological threat or emergency situation is out of question," the press service of the Department told the "BaltInfo".