Kerala, which was relieved by the absence of an epidemic following its watery devastation, has now found itself in the grip of leptospirosis. The state is seeing an increase in the number of flood related ailments. The Directorate of Health Services, Kerala, issued a lepto alert to all units on Tuesday.

The notification, (copy with this paper) signed by Dr Reena K J, additional director (public health), states, "There is a sudden increase of leptospirosis from Thrissur, Palakkad, Malapuram, Kozhikode, and Kannur district. You may take this situation very seriously and alert the entire clinical team of your district. Any fever with myalgia to be taken as leptospirois." Dr Reena said, "On Tuesday, we had 49 cases of lepto across the state, of which 25 were confirmed leptospirosis. The directives are to ensure that there is no epidemic."