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Post-Flood Bombay Disease Death Toll at Least 195 |
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| INDIA: August 18, 2005 | ||
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MUMBAI - The death toll from disease in Mumbai and adjacent areas, after the worst floods in history in the western Indian state of Maharashtra three weeks ago, has risen to at least 195, officials said on Wednesday.
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Nearly 8,000 people had been admitted to civic hospitals in Mumbai, India's financial and entertainment capital, since July 29 and 159 people have died in the city alone. Civic officials said 32 deaths were caused by leptospirosis, a bacterial disease spread by exposure to water contaminated with the urine of infected animals, 10 died from gastroenteritis and 13 from malaria. The cause of more than 100 deaths has been classified as fever, though authorities say the symptoms were similar to leptospirosis. However, hundreds of people are also being discharged from hospitals daily and the number of daily admissions is declining, said Dadasaheb Shivjatak, spokesman for the municipality of Mumbai, once known as Bombay. The death by disease comes after more than 1,000 people were killed -- mostly drowned and buried by landslides -- after a day of the heaviest rainfall ever recorded in the state on July 26.
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REUTERS NEWS SERVICE
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