Unidentified illness hospitalizes more than 300 people in Andhra Pradesh, India

[Firebat]

(CNN) - An unidentified illness has hospitalized more than 300 people in southeastern India, including one who has died, according to local officials investigating the cases.

Patients in the city of Eluru, in the state of Andhra Pradesh, reported a range of symptoms including seizures, loss of consciousness and some nausea over the weekend, said Dolla Joshi Roy, the district surveillance officer of Eluru's West Godavari District.

This comes as India continues to battle the Covid-19 pandemic, with the world's second-highest number of infections. Andhra Pradesh is one of the worst-affected states, and currently has more than 800,000 confirmed cases.

But Covid-19 wasn't the cause of the mass hospitalizations over the weekend.

"All patients have tested negative for Covid-19," said Roy, adding that about 180 patients have now been discharged, while the rest are "stable." The patient who died had reported similar symptoms to the others, but then had a fatal but unrelated cardiac arrest, she said.

A note released by Andhra Pradesh's Health Department said that initial blood tests did not find any evidence of a viral infection, such as dengue or chikungunya, which are both caused by mosquito bites.

Authorities are now testing water samples in Eluru for contamination, after all the patients were found to receive their water from a common source. Samples have been collected from 57,863 households and sent to a forensic laboratory.

"The cause is still unknown but still we are doing all kinds of testing, including testing food and milk," said Roy.

Specialists from the All India Institute of Medical Sciences and a neurologist from out of state have also arrived in Eluru to conduct further neurotoxic tests, and are waiting for the results.

The Chief Minister of Andhra Pradesh, Y.S. Jaganmohan Reddy, visited the patients on Monday.

https://edition.cnn.com/2020/12/07/asia/india-mystery-illness-intl-hnk-scli/index.html

 

[WhenSultansBowled]

Hopefully it's nothing serious.

The last thing India (and world) need a new pandemic.

 

[iRfaN_LA]

Looks like a water contamination issue. Click bait headline from CNN.

Hopefully all is well.

 

[JaDed]

Water issue..

 

[MenInG]

Hundreds have flooded hospital in Andhra Pradesh since Saturday night following the outbreak of a mysterious disease in Eluru city. While the mystery disease has baffled health experts, a preliminary analysis of test reports has established the role of chemical substances found in pesticides in the infection that left one dead.

Multiple teams of experts from premier scientific institutions of the country who are on to the job to determine the exact cause of the disease in Eluru city of Andhra Pradesh are probing the role of organochlorine substances in the infection in Eluru, news agency PTI reported.

Organochlorine pesticides are chlorinated hydrocarbons used in agriculture and mosquito control. The compounds include DDT that is widely used in anti-mosquito fogging.

On the role of organochlorine in being the disease-triggering agent, an official told PTI, “Mostly yes, but we are waiting for the laboratory report (for confirmation).

With water contamination ruled out as the cause of the disease spread, and also other tests turned out normal, the medical teams are now focusing on other chemical agents that could have led to the outbreak.

Water and milk samples were sent to the Centre for Cellular and Molecular Biology in Hyderabad for analysis of heavy metal content, sources in the Medical and Health Department had said.

Centre’s 3-member team in Andhra
Vice President Secretariat said on Monday that the Centre is rushing a three-member team of medical experts to Eluru in Andhra Pradesh.

A Vice President Secretariat statement said the Union Health Ministry has informed that Dr Jamshed Nayar, an associate professor (emergency medicine) from AIIMS; Dr Avinash Deoshtawar, a virologist from the National Institute of Virology, Pune; and Dr Sanket Kulkarni, the deputy director and a public health expert from the National Centre for Disease Control, Delhi, are being sent to Eluru.

Andhra Chief Minister YS Jagan Mohan Reddy on Monday visited the Government General Hospital in Eluru and spoke to the affected persons, assuring them all help.

Addressing a high-level review meeting later, YS Jagan Mohan Reddy directed the officials to be on alert and be prepared to handle any situation.

Over 250 discharged
So far, 263 people have been discharged from hospital after treatment while another 171 have been admitted as in-patients. Another 17 patients were referred to hospitals in Vijayawada and Guntur for better medicare, according to official data.

The mystery illness in Eluru
The disease, which first surfaced in the One-Town area in Eluru city, later spread to the adjoining rural parts of Eluru and Denduluru, though the number of affected there was far lesser.

Earlier, the mystery disease saw people suddenly falling unconscious after suffering from fits and nausea. The symptoms, according to GGH doctors, included a bout of epilepsy for 3-5 minutes, memory loss for a few minutes, anxiety, vomiting, headache and back pain. The disease claimed the life of 45-year-old Sridhar on Sunday.

As per a report presented by West Godavari district Collector R Mutyalaraju, the precise cause of the disease could not be established yet as blood tests and CT (brain) scans showed everything as normal.

https://www.indiatoday.in/india/sto...chemical-pesticides-update-1747655-2020-12-08

 

[MenInG]

New Delhi, India – Excessive amounts of lead and nickel were found in the blood samples of patients who had fallen sick due to a “mysterious disease” in the southern Indian state of Andhra Pradesh, a medical official has told Al Jazeera.

More than 500 people in Andhra Pradesh’s Eluru town fell ill, reporting nausea, seizures and fainting on Saturday. At least one person died due to the illness on Sunday.

The preliminary findings by medical experts, according to a statement by the local government, suggest that lead and nickel poisoning could be responsible for the illness.

“Till now the results we have received from the experts from AIIMS (All India Institute of Medical Science) shows lead and nickel in excess quantities in the blood of the patients,” Dr AVR Mohan, medical superintendent of District Hospital Vijayawada, told Al Jazeera over the phone.
“Initially, we had sent samples of 10 patients and yesterday (Tuesday) we have sent 30 more samples whose results are likely to come today.”

Dr Mohan, who is also the district coordinator of health services for Vijayawada, said that none of the patients was found to have COVID-19. “We have conducted COVID-19 tests for each of the patients but none of them came positive.”

He said 72 patients suffering from the mysterious disease were admitted to the hospital.

“We have already discharges more than 400 patients from the hospital,” he said.

The health official said at least six patients who had recovered from the illness suffered a second seizure attack and were readmitted to the hospital. “They were later discharged from the hospital,” Dr Mohan told Al Jazeera.

Officials have also collected vegetable samples and milk from the districts involved for testing.

“More tests are being conducted by [the] Indian Institute of Chemical Technology and other institutes and the results are expected soon,” a statement from the Andhra Pradesh chief minister’s office said.

Initially it was suspected that water contamination could have been the cause of the illness but health experts did not find lead or nickel in the water samples tested.

On Tuesday, Indian authorities said they were investigating if organochlorines which are used as pesticides or in mosquito control had caused the outbreak.

Federal legislator GVL Narasimha Rao, who is from the state, said on Twitter that he had spoken with government medical experts and that the “most likely cause is poisonous organochlorine substances”.

“It is one of the possibilities,” said Geeta Prasadini, a public health director in Andhra Pradesh state, adding they were awaiting test reports to determine the cause.

 

[Firebat]

If not the water, where could the lead and nickel poisoning have come from?

 

[MenInG]

New Delhi, India – Scientists have found nickel in milk samples taken from an area in India where hundreds of patients fell sick with a mysterious disease a week ago.

More than 600 people in Andhra Pradesh’s Eluru town fell ill, reporting nausea, seizures and fainting. Excessive amounts of lead and nickel were found in the blood samples of the patients.

One person died on December 7.

Two more patients admitted with symptoms of the disease died last week but local health officials said the deaths were not due to the “mystery illness” but other health complications.

A scientist at the All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) revealed that nickel was found in milk samples collected in Eluru town.

“Presence of nickel in the milk samples is something which is warning us. It should not be present in the milk samples. It’s alarming,” Avr Mohan, the medical superintendent of District Hospital Eluru, told Al Jazeera in a phone interview.

Mohan, who is also the district coordinator of health services, said scientists were yet to find out why metal was found in milk samples but there was a chance it may have come from pesticides.

“It must be somewhere in the grass or something that the cattle are consuming,” he said.

On Wednesday, Indian media reported that experts at AIIMS, Indian Institute of Chemical Technology (IICT) and other reputed institutions confirmed that residues of pesticides could be behind the outbreak of the mysterious disease.

Last week, health experts said they found excessive amounts of lead and nickel in patients’ blood samples.

Authorities are yet to find the source of the lead.

“Lead is not found in other samples. It was found only in the blood samples of the patients,” said Mohan. “The source needs to be identified.”

Indian media reported that officials of the National Institute of Nutrition (NIN), who tested samples of food items including meat, chicken, fish, shrimp and vegetables, found pesticide components in some vegetables.

Authorities said the remaining patients have been discharged and no new cases have been reported since Sunday.

https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2020/12/17/indias-mysterious-disease-caused-by-nickel-in-milk-expert