PUNE: For hours, the Chavans didn’t know what had gone wrong with their son. He had been unwell for a few days, down with a bout of diarrhoea, but on January 12, seven-year-old Sai Chavan suddenly fell to the ground, and stopped moving. Mother Noor Jahan and father Suraj rushed him to hospital where doctors were flummoxed: Sai had symptoms they couldn’t diagnose. Eventually, he was taken to a private hospital in Pune city and it was there that specialists had answers for the couple – their son had Guillain-Barre Syndrome (GBS).
By early February, the Chavans’ neighbourhood of Nanded Gaon had enough cases to be classified as the “primary outbreak zone” – nearly 90 cases would come from this area and nearby localities of Kirkatwadi, Sinhagad Road and Khadakwasla, all that were not long ago merged with Pune Municipal Corporation.
On February 4, almost a month after the first cases emerged, health authorities released their findings. Bacteria Campylobacter jejuni had made its way into the water supply, they said, triggering a mass infection event. So far, more than 180 people have been sickened; six have died.
The Chavans found themselves at ground zero. “We should never have trusted the corporation’s water, it was our mistake,” said Noor. Near her stood Suraj, trying to get his son to walk again. But Sai’s knees buckled; he was still in pain.
The family was given a municipal tap connection after Nanded Gaon merged with PMC in 2021, but with a catch: the water they got – for an hour every day – was sourced from a nearby well. The well’s water was only chlorinated, unlike the rest of Pune’s supply which goes through an elaborate purification process at a treatment plant. Incidentally, the well was also the source of water for households across Kirkatwadi, Nandoshi village, Dhayari, Sinhagad Road and DSK Vishwa township.
Vikas Joshi, a resident of DSK Vishwa, whose brother is in hospital on oxygen support with GBS symptoms, says, “There is no point in having a water filter here at home because the supply itself is so contaminated. We buy large cans, boil the water and then drink it.”
Dr Santosh Rawale, who practises in Dhayari, says GBS fears are rampant. “I now get 20 people every day with stomach flu or other infections, asking me if it’s GBS. Many residents here had upset stomachs before the outbreak happened.”