A cholera patient at a public health centre in Rayagada. AP Photo

Bhubaneswar, Sept. 20: Cholera and diarrhoea epidemic situation continued to be grave in Rayagada district.

One Himirika Chakrapani, a tribal villager of Ramanaguda block, died of water-borne disease today, official sources said.

The official death toll rose to 41 in the district. However, unofficial sources put the figure at 78.

So far, 1,734 persons in 378 villages across this tribal-dominated district were affected by cholera and diarrhoea, officials at the state disease surveillance cell said.

Incessant rain had worsened the situation making it difficult to shift patients to hospitals, said a senior official of the state health department.

Rayagada district collector Nitin Bhanudas Jawale said that the situation was under control and the number of cholera and diarrhoea patients had dropped.

“Earlier, everyday around 30 to 40 cases of diarrhoea and cholera were being reported from each health centre and temporary camp. Now, the flow of patients has come down to two to three,” he said.

In another development, a three-member central team comprising microbiologist of the Calcutta-based National Institute of Cholera and Enteric Diseases Dr T Rammurthy, epidemiologist Dr A Kanungo and senior epidemiologist of Delhi-based National Centre for Disease Control Dr Jagvir Singh visited the affected pockets of Rayagada.

Delegations of the Congress and the BJP have also visited the affected areas of the district. While state unit president Juel Oram headed the BJP team, senior Congress leader and Kalahandi MP Bhakra Charan Das led a PCC team to remote Kalyansinghpur block.

Earlier, Das had urged Union health minister Ghulam Nabi Azad to depute a team of doctors and send medicines in adequate quantity.

Outbreak of diarrhoea has also been reported in Nowrangpur, Malkangiri, Nuapada, Koraput, Gajapati and Ganjam districts in the southern part of the state.

The water-borne disease had so far claimed 160 lives across the state, said health department sources. However, the situation is alarming in Rayagada district where the cholera bacteria have been detected from rectal swabs.