Over 450 People Hospitalised In India Due To Sudden Outbreak Of Mysterious Disease
All the patients tested negative for COVID-19.
By Arisha Rozaidee — 08 Dec 2020, 06:37 PM
As of today, 8 December, over 450 people have been hospitalised in India due to a mysterious illness
According to India Today, the centre of the outbreak is a city named Eluru located in the West Godavari district. Hundreds of people started flooding the local hospital on Saturday, 6 December.
263 people have since been discharged after receiving treatment at the hospital, while another 171 have been admitted as in-patients. On the other hand, 17 patients were referred to hospitals in Vijayawada and Guntur for further treatment.
The symptoms of the mystery illness include bouts of epilepsy that last up to five minutes, temporary memory loss, anxiety, vomiting, headache, and back pain
West Godavari district surveillance officer Dolla Joshi Roy told CNN that COVID-19 is not the cause behind the symptoms.
"All patients have tested negative for COVID-19. The cause is still unknown but still we are doing all kinds of testing, including testing food and milk," he said.
Meanwhile, India Today cited a report presented by West Godavari district Collector R Mutyalaraju who stated that the precise cause of the disease could not be established yet as blood tests and computed tomography (CT) scans showed everything as normal.
A woman showing symptoms of epilepsy being taken to a hospital in Eluru on 6 December.
Image via News18Experts believe that a chemical commonly used in pesticides could be the cause of the illness
Politician G V L Narasimha Rao was the first to suspect that poisonous organochlorine substances could be the cause of the disease, as reported by Times of India.
Organochlorine are chlorinated hydrocarbons used in agricultural pesticides and mosquito control.
The news outlet also quoted an unnamed source from the Medical and Health Department who said that the possibility of the disease being caused by the chemical is likely. However, authorities are still awaiting laboratory reports for confirmation.
