Mysterious disease kills 14 children in Bihar
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A mystery disease has gripped Muzaffarpur and its adjoining districts in North Bihar and has killed 14 children in the past week. Suspected to be Japanese encephalitis, the disease has struck several villages in the area, with more than 50 children under the age of six undergoing treatment at different hospitals. There is as yet no unanimity among local doctors about the exact cause of the deaths - some doctors attribute them to heatstroke - because of the lack of facilities to confirm an encephalitis outbreak. The alarmed state government on Saturday sent a team of experts from Patna's Rajendra Memorial Research Institute (RMRI) to examine the affected children and collect their blood samples. These would be sent outside the state for verification of the disease. Deputy CM Sushil Kumar Modi directed the principal secretary (health), Amarjeet Sinha, to personally monitor the situation through the district administration and make arrangements for the treatment of the ailing kids. Muzaffarpur civil surgeon Dr A.P. Singh has, meanwhile, constituted a fivemember medical team headed by additional chief medical officer Dr J.P. Ranjan to examine children. Singh said the children were being treated for heatstroke and that nothing could be said until the blood sample results were out. The doctors said the children were suffering from fever, vomiting, diarrhoea, loss of consciousness and convulsions. Last year, as many as 20 deaths were reported from the same area with similar symptoms. The government had sent the patients' blood samples to Pune for verification of encephalitis, but the report is still awaited. ================================================= |
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