Mass poisoning in Dagestan is a dangerous symptom of a chronic disease

An outbreak of intestinal infection occurred in the Magaramkent district of Dagestan. Residents of the settlements of Magaramkent, Kuysun, Gilar, Gaptsakh, Verkhniy Tagirkent sought medical help, but later the republican Rospotrebnadzor reported poisoning in four settlements. According to preliminary data from the agency, the spread of acute intestinal infection is associated with drinking water.

In Dagestan, they told how not to be poisoned by drinking water. Photo: TsUR of the Republic of Dagestan

“Over the past 24 hours, 110 people have sought hospital treatment with symptoms of nausea, vomiting, fever and diarrhea, of which 18 have been hospitalized. All of them have mild to moderate cases of the disease, there are no severe cases,” the Dagestan Ministry of Health reported .

Rospotrebnadzor clarified that children aged 3 to 14 years fell ill, and suffered mostly mild forms of the infection.

“The clinical picture in patients is uniform and manifests itself with symptoms of acute gastroenterocolitis, including nausea, vomiting and loose stools,” the department added.

The Investigative Committee of the Russian Federation for the Republic of Dagestan opened a criminal case under Part 1 of Article 238 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation - “Provision of services that do not meet safety requirements.”

“It was established that the citizens were drinking water that is supplied to the homes of village residents through water supply lines,” the department’s press service emphasized .

Employees of the Dagestan Ministry of Health, a team of infectious disease specialists and epidemiologists have been sent to the Magaramkent district. Rospotrebnadzor specialists have collected water samples, are examining the victims and are finding out where the infection was spreading from.

“According to preliminary data, the diseases are associated with the consumption of drinking water coming from the Dzhepelsky water source, located 14 km from the village of Magaramkent in the direction of the village of Akhty,” Rospotrebnadzor said.

Residents of the area have been banned from drinking unboiled water, and door-to-door visits are being conducted. Investigations are ongoing.

“It has been established that one of the reasons for the outbreak is the poor quality of water treatment and the lack of chlorination of water in the water supply system of populated areas,” Rospotrebnadzor added later.

It is noted that information about two water supply accidents on June 30 and July 4 was not communicated to the department in a timely manner.

Dagestanis have noticed that the situation in the republic is repeated almost every year.

“It’s the same thing every year,” noted one local resident.

"Rospotrebnadzor! So you were aware of this problem. For the garbage collapse! Apparently, the contamination comes from garbage," one of the subscribers commented on Rospotrebnadzor's statement.

Let us recall that a criminal case was opened on June 20 due to the negligence of officials of the Magaramkent district administration (Part 1 of Article 293 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation). According to the investigation, since June 17, 2024, the administration and the MBU "Housing and Communal Services" have not properly performed their duties. In particular, instead of transporting waste to a specialized landfill, they transported it to a site in Magaramkent, creating an unauthorized dump.

The press service of the Dagestan Investigative Committee reported on the initiation of a criminal case on June 20. Incidentally, on June 11, the court satisfied the claim of Rospotrebnadzor for Dagestan and ordered the district administration to eliminate the dump, which was also burning at that time, within a month. The connection between the unauthorized dump and the mass poisoning was not officially confirmed, but it is unlikely that the accumulated waste improved the sanitary situation in the district.

It should be noted that before this, in October 2023, at the request of Rospotrebnadzor, a landfill was removed in the village of Mugergan in the same district, where garbage had accumulated due to untimely removal.

Mass poisonings in Dagestan occur quite frequently, as confirmed by the list of the largest outbreaks in recent years.

It is noteworthy that the day before the mass poisoning, the Magaramkent district administration reported that repair work was being carried out due to a leak in the water main.

According to TASS , over the past ten years, there have been at least 12 cases of mass poisoning of children in Dagestan (out of 50 victims). In 2021, the head of the republic , Sergei Melikov, reported four outbreaks of intestinal infection over the winter due to water quality, calling for the modernization of the water supply system. To this can be added such problems as violations by officials, ineffective purification systems or water treatment with violations , unauthorized landfills and discharges of wastewater into reservoirs and rivers.

In Dagestan, there are also mass poisonings in catering establishments and stores. To be convinced of this, it is enough to study the publications of the regional Rospotrebnadzor , which regularly reports on violations of sanitary standards. In the first week of July, specialists reported violations and poisonings in five establishments.