Three cases of cholera registered in government-run hospitals in the Limbayat and Sachin area of the city, have sent shock-waves through the government machinery. Alarmed officials have resorted to take quick action to combat the disease from spreading. "The focus is on prevention,' said an official. After causing malaria, diarrhoea and other water-borne ailments, contaminated water and food have led to the outbreak of cholera, he added. A four-year-old girl from Madhav Park Society in the Sachin area was admitted to the civil hospital on March 13, and two patients, including a seven-year-old from Limbayat and Dindola were admitted to SMIMER last week. All three have been diagnosed with cholera.Both government hospitals as also private clinics are teeming with patients with various water-borne diseases, as a result of the intense summer in the past month. Medicine department head, Vipul Srivastav of SMIMER advised timely medical intervention and steps to curb infection. The major preventive steps, besides inoculation are: drinking boiled water, eating fresh and cooked food, shunning stale and exposed food, cleaning water tanks regularly, and maintaining general cleanliness within and outside the house. Public health officials are propagating preventive steps and educating people not to wear infected clothes.