Suspected waterborne outbreak in J&K’s Rajouri sends 35 villagers to hospital

In a worrying development, 35 residents from Kotliparran village in Jammu and Kashmir’s Rajouri district have been hospitalised in recent days after falling ill from a suspected waterborne illness.

According to health officials, the villagers displayed symptoms such as stomach pain, fever, dehydration, and diarrhea.

While all patients are currently in stable condition, four of them have been shifted to the Government Medical College (GMC) in Rajouri for advanced care, a doctor leading the medical response confirmed. He added, “Thirty-five persons from Kotliparran village in Manjakot tehsil were admitted to the hospital after falling ill in the past few days. All are stable. Four of them have been referred to the Government Medical College (GMC) in Rajouri.”

In response to the sudden spike in illnesses, health authorities have launched an investigation and collected water samples from three local wells, which have since been sealed. These samples have been sent for testing to confirm the cause of the outbreak.

"It can be a possible outbreak of acute gastroenteritis, according to the information received from the community medicine department," a healthcare official said, adding that the pattern of symptoms strongly suggests a waterborne origin.

This incident comes months after a tragic sequence of events in Rajouri’s Badhaal village, where 17 people - 13 of them children - died between December 7, 2024, and January 19 this year due to a similarly mysterious illness. The village was declared a containment zone at the time, with all residents quarantined for over a month as a preventive measure.

Health teams are continuing to monitor the situation in Kotliparran closely, and the district administration has reassured the public that all necessary precautions are being implemented to prevent any further spread.