Death toll rises in post-flood Bombay

BOMBAY - Health officials in India's financial capital have reported a sharp rise in deaths among the hundreds of people who have been admitted to hospitals with fever following the worst floods in living memory.

The officials said the death toll jumped from 26 on Wednesday to 37 on Thursday. Neighbouring Kalyan-Dombivili municipality also reported 27 deaths due to fever.

The cause of the fever is still not clear but health workers suspect an outbreak of leptospirosis, a bacterial disease that can cause death in rare cases and is spread through exposure to water contaminated with the urine of infected animals.

More than 1000 people were killed in the western Indian state of Maharasthra two weeks ago after record rain in the region triggered landslides and floods that brought Bombay, its capital, to a halt for several days.

Bombay municipal corporation spokesman Dadasaheb Shivjatak said 447 fever patients had been admitted to hospitals. Between the start of the flooding on July 26 and Wednesday, 26 people had died, he said. But in the 24 hours to Thursday that rose to 37.

The cause of the sharp rise in the death toll was not immediately clear.

- REUTERS