| For several days now, the city of Kachkanar in the Sverdlovsk region has been engulfed in a dysentery epidemic. Since the beginning of March, 132 people have been hospitalized in local hospitals, and there is a danger that, despite emergency measures, the number of patients will rise. Three milkmaids from a suburban dairy farm were responsible for the spread of a severe infectious disease. They handled the product of their labor so carelessly that the milk arrived in the city in the same bottle with E. coli. This may not be the first time that contaminated milk has been supplied from a farm, but traditionally it was boiled at the Valeryanovsky dairy station. As luck would have it, the pasteurization machine there broke down the other day. As a result, milk and dairy products ended up on store shelves, hospitals and kindergartens in Kachkanar without heat treatment. Initially, it was assumed that the cause of the poisoning was tap water, which now, during the flood period, is not of good quality (an outbreak of dysentery due to the flood was recently registered in the village of Severka near Yekaterinburg). However, after a thorough investigation, specialists from the regional sanitary and epidemiological surveillance center and the regional Ministry of Health concluded that the water had nothing to do with it. Meetings of the emergency anti-epidemic commission are held daily in Kachkanar. All milk was immediately removed from the shelves of city stores. Major lawsuits have been filed against the dairy farm, dairy plant and city hospital.
Victor BELIMOV, Ekaterinburg
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