Mysterious disease claims two more lives in J&K; death toll 14
Rajouri/Jammu:�The death toll due to a mysterious disease in a remote village of the Rajouri district of Jammu and Kashmir has risen to 14 with two more members of a family including a six-year-old girl succumbing to it, officials said on Tuesday. The 14 fatalities including 11 children and three elders in three families in the last 30 days have caused panic among the residents of Badhaal village of Koteranka Sub-division. The government has deployed various health teams to collect samples to identify and address the potential health risks, the officials said. They said Safina Kousar breathed her last at a hospital in Jammu where her three other siblings died over the past two days and two others are still battling for their lives. The grandfather of the children Mohd Rafiq also died in a hospital in Rajouri on Monday, the officials said. Nine people belonging to two families died in the village last month. Initially the deaths were attributed to suspected food poisoning. However, the situation turned grim when most of the villagers complained of similar symptoms, prompting government intervention and the rushing of experts from various prestigious health institutions in the country. Last month, the principal of Government Medical College Hospital, Jammu, Dr Ashutosh Gupta, had said preliminary investigations pointed to a viral infection as the cause of the mysterious deaths. However, he also said more studies were needed to reach a definitive conclusion. Teams of experts from Pune's National Institute of Virology, PGI Chandigarh, AIIMS Delhi and the National Centre for Disease Control (NCDC), Delhi, have visited the village to assist in the investigations. Rajouri Deputy Commissioner Abhishek Sharma is personally monitoring the situation to ensure timely intervention and mitigation, the officials said, adding aggressive contact tracing and sampling by the Health Department teams are being carried out. The officials said food and water samples had already been collected to ascertain the quality and safety of essential supplies in the region. A dedicated team of the Health Department, led by Jammu Health Director, Dr Rakesh Mangotra and Rajouri Chief Medical Officer Dr Manohar Rana is camping at Kandi Kotranka to oversee the operations. The administration has also stationed a mobile medical unit and ambulance on standby to address any emergent medical needs. The district administration remains committed to the safety and well-being of the residents and urges the public to cooperate with health officials during the ongoing surveillance and interventions, an official said. He said for any health-related concerns, the public is encouraged to reach out to the district control room or the local health authorities.�
Rajouri/Jammu:�The death toll due to a mysterious disease in a remote village of the Rajouri district of Jammu and Kashmir has risen to 14 with two more members of a family including a six-year-old girl succumbing to it, officials said on Tuesday. The 14 fatalities including 11 children and three elders in three families in the last 30 days have caused panic among the residents of Badhaal village of Koteranka Sub-division. The government has deployed various health teams to collect samples to identify and address the potential health risks, the officials said.
They said Safina Kousar breathed her last at a hospital in Jammu where her three other siblings died over the past two days and two others are still battling for their lives. The grandfather of the children Mohd Rafiq also died in a hospital in Rajouri on Monday, the officials said.
Nine people belonging to two families died in the village last month. Initially the deaths were attributed to suspected food poisoning. However, the situation turned grim when most of the villagers complained of similar symptoms, prompting government intervention and the rushing of experts from various prestigious health institutions in the country.
Last month, the principal of Government Medical College Hospital, Jammu, Dr Ashutosh Gupta, had said preliminary investigations pointed to a viral infection as the cause of the mysterious deaths. However, he also said more studies were needed to reach a definitive conclusion.
Teams of experts from Pune's National Institute of Virology, PGI Chandigarh, AIIMS Delhi and the National Centre for Disease Control (NCDC), Delhi, have visited the village to assist in the investigations.
Rajouri Deputy Commissioner Abhishek Sharma is personally monitoring the situation to ensure timely intervention and mitigation, the officials said, adding aggressive contact tracing and sampling by the Health Department teams are being carried out.
The officials said food and water samples had already been collected to ascertain the quality and safety of essential supplies in the region. A dedicated team of the Health Department, led by Jammu Health Director, Dr Rakesh Mangotra and Rajouri Chief Medical Officer Dr Manohar Rana is camping at Kandi Kotranka to oversee the operations.
The administration has also stationed a mobile medical unit and ambulance on standby to address any emergent medical needs. The district administration remains committed to the safety and well-being of the residents and urges the public to cooperate with health officials during the ongoing surveillance and interventions, an official said.
He said for any health-related concerns, the public is encouraged to reach out to the district control room or the local health authorities.�
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