Cuttack, March 25: Viral hepatitis, a form of jaundice, has hit Jobra once again with more than 30 persons allegedly affected in the past 10 days.

Jobra falls under ward No. 41 of the civic body.

The district has administration admitted the jaundice outbreak. But, it claimed that only 17 persons had been diagnosed with the liver disease so far.

Public health engineering department (PHED) officials have been directed to detect the leakages in the water supply pipelines as it is suspected that contamination of drinking water might have resulted in the jaundice outbreak.

"Water samples have already been collected from various areas in Jobra and sent for tests. The PHED officials have already started replacing old pipelines," said district collector Nirmal Chandra Mishra.

This is the fourth jaundice outbreak in the area since January 2015. More than 100 cases were reported from areas such as Thoria Sahi, Mangalabag, Mehendipir, Mahidas Bazar and Jobra on three occasions in January, February and May last year.

The water supply pipelines pass through various drainage channels in almost every locality in Cuttack. Water gets contaminated easily as sewage enters drinking water supply pipelines through the leakages at various points.

"The return of jaundice is a serious issue. It speaks volumes about the administration's failure in maintaining sanitation in the locality," said Santosh Sahu, 45, a resident of Jobra.

Though more than 2,500 unauthorised household water supply connections were changed following the outbreaks of jaundice last year, many domestic piped water supply lines are yet to be realigned above the drainage channels.

"Many pipelines are getting damaged during execution of the integrated sanitation project. Civic officials are not taking any step to replace the pipelines. As a result, sewage is entering the main drinking water supply lines through such leakages," said Kishore Patnaik, 62, another resident of Jobra.

Chief district medical officer Prafula Behera said that a massive awareness drive would shortly be launched at Jobra and in other parts of the city to deal with the situation.

"A health camp will start at Jobra to screen patients with symptoms of jaundice from Saturday. Anganwadi and other public health workers will also be roped in to distribute halogen tablets from in the affected localities," Behera said.