Bhubaneswar, April 10: Jaundice continues to spread its tentacles with 12 fresh cases being detected here today. The total number of jaundice patients here has reached 50.

Cuttack was the first city to be affected by the water-borne disease this summer, while Bhubaneswar followed quickly. So far, 56 jaundice cases have been reported from Cuttack. Out of this, 44 cases have come from Jobra alone.

With the spurt in jaundice cases, the city administration has set up a permanent health camp at the Jharana slum, which is located closed to chief minister Naveen Patnaik's residence.

Health officials are conducting free liver function tests and are also providing free medicines.

"We have deployed our specialist doctors to conduct the test and asked them to refer to us the cases in case of an emergency," said Capital Hospital superintendent Binod Mishra.

Public health director Kailash Dash suspected that the outbreak of the disease occurred due to contamination of water.

"We have collected water samples from taps, tube wells and wells and sent those to the public health laboratory for tests. The reports will come on Tuesday after which we could found the actual source of the disease,' said Dash.<>

On being safe in this situation, Dash said that the incubation period of the virus in the body is about 21 days. "The affected person must be aware of all the possible symptoms of jaundice and seek medical assistance immediately. Also the person must be keep away from alcohol which is a deadly mixture for jaundice that can lead to immediate death," said the public health director.

Meanwhile, tackling the ever-increasing disease here especially in Jharana and the newly added Kargil slum has became a challenge task for the Bhubaneswar Municipal Corporation (BMC). The civic body yesterday rolled down a awareness chariot to let know people about the precautionary measures about jaundice.Cuttack was already in the grip of this disease twice in consecutive year while this is the first time that the capital city is recording such trend of the disease. In 2015, the disease had killed more than 30 people and affected over 4,000 across state.