Epidemiological investigation of an outbreak of enteric fever in a village in Maharashtra.

Four hundred fifteen fever cases occurred in village Katkalamba, in Nanded district, Maharashtra during November-December, 1995. Explosive nature of the outbreak, non involvement of infants, significantly higher incidence rate in the age group 1-14 years and clustering of almost all cases in the users of a particular well indicated it to be a water borne outbreak. Laboratory investigations in selected cases confirmed it to be an outbreak of enteric fever. Chemical and microbiological examination of water samples from the suspected wells gave evidence of faecal contamination of water. Circumstances under which the contamination occurred and the outbreak spread are discussed.