{"id":152737,"date":"2025-10-27T16:33:54","date_gmt":"2025-10-27T23:33:54","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/?p=152737"},"modified":"2025-10-27T16:33:54","modified_gmt":"2025-10-27T23:33:54","slug":"experts-warn-of-disease-outbreaks-across-sri-lanka","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/2025\/10\/27\/experts-warn-of-disease-outbreaks-across-sri-lanka\/","title":{"rendered":"Experts warn of disease outbreaks across Sri Lanka"},"content":{"rendered":"<h2><span style=\"color: #0000ff;\"><em>Courtesy The Daily Mirror<\/em><\/span><\/h2>\n\n\n<p>Colombo, Oct. 27 (Daily Mirror) &#8211; As torrential rains lash Sri Lanka, health experts are sounding the alarm over a surge in waterborne diseases.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Senior Consultant Physician Dr. Ananda Wijewickrama told the Daily Mirror that diseases such as dengue, leptospirosis, hepatitis A, typhoid, and diarrhoea could spread rapidly as rainwater contaminates drinking water sources and creates ideal conditions for mosquitoes to breed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>He said the rainy season greatly increases the risk of several serious illnesses, with dengue fever posing a major threat.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Flooded and stagnant areas become perfect breeding grounds for mosquitoes. At the same time, floodwater can mix with urine from infected animals, leading to the spread of leptospirosis, or \u2018rat fever,\u2019\u201d Dr. Wijewickrama explained.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>He cautioned that people working or wading through flooded or muddy areas such as farmers, construction workers, and rescuers are particularly at risk.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>They should wear boots, gloves, and protective clothing, and seek immediate medical attention if they experience symptoms such as fever, headaches, chills, or muscle pain,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The physician further noted that outbreaks of diarrhoeal diseases, hepatitis A, and typhoid are common after heavy rains due to contaminated drinking water and poor sanitation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>People often use unclean water from wells or streams during floods, which increases the risk of these infections,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>These illnesses may not appear right away but could surface as floodwaters begin to recede over the next two weeks. It\u2019s crucial to act early to prevent a health crisis,\u201d Dr. Wijewickrama stressed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>He also reminded the public to ensure safe drinking water by boiling or chlorinating it, properly dispose of garbage to reduce mosquito breeding, and maintain good personal hygiene.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Simple preventive steps such as washing hands before meals, drinking boiled water, covering food, and avoiding exposure to muddy or stagnant water can save lives,\u201d he pointed out.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Courtesy The Daily Mirror Colombo, Oct. 27 (Daily Mirror) &#8211; As torrential rains lash Sri Lanka, health experts are sounding the alarm over a surge in waterborne diseases. Senior Consultant Physician Dr. Ananda Wijewickrama told the Daily Mirror that diseases such as dengue, leptospirosis, hepatitis A, typhoid, and diarrhoea could spread rapidly as rainwater contaminates [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[122],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-152737","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-health"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/152737","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=152737"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/152737\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":152738,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/152737\/revisions\/152738"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=152737"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=152737"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=152737"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}