Surat, August 21 : Surat city in Gujarat has been hit by Leptospirosis disease, a bacterial illness passed on through the urine of infected animals in water, soil or vegetation following days of flooding.

The city has been grappling with the disease outbreak for at least past 20 days.

The hospital wards are brimming to their capacity due to daily inflow of patients suffering from Leptospirosis.

The disease, which affects humans and animals, has gripped the people in the city, following rainfall and water logging.

Most of the patients are farmers who are believed to have contacted the disease while working in their fields.

"My mother-in-law went to the field to work and suddenly fainted. We took her to the doctor but he could not diagnose the problem. Then we brought her here, where she has been diagnosed with leptospirosis," said Sunil Patel, a patient's attendant.

Though no official figure was available, the disease has affected approximately more than one hundred people and around 28 have died, since the outbreak of leptospirosis in the region.

The doctors at the Civil Hospital in Surat say they had to raise the number of wards and staff due to the increase in the number of patients.

They however, expressed confidence of dealing with the outbreak as they said they had sufficient supply of medicines to treat the patients.

"Earlier we had allotted one ward but had to increase the number of wards as patients inflow increased. We have also raised the number of our staff. We have sufficient medicines to meet the needs of the patients," said Mahesh Vaghela, doctor, Civil Hospital, Surat.

Leptospirosis is an infectious disease and is often referred as swineherd's disease, swamp fever, or mud fever.

The organism carrying the disease enters the body when mucous membranes or abraded skin comes in contact with contaminated water.

The infection causes a systemic illness that often leads to fever and jaundice.

The patient could develop kidney damage, meningitis, liver failure, and respiratory distress, if the disease is not treated on time.

ANI