Nearly 450 people have contracted a mystery illness at Eluru in Andhra Pradesh leaving the state health officials in high alert. First reported on Saturday, the government hospital at Eluru continued to be flooded with patients complaining of giddiness, seizures, convulsions and epilepsy.
Chief minister Y S Jagan Mohan Reddy visited the hospital on Monday and interacted with the patients and attendants and assured them of all help.
A 45-year-old man died on Sunday evening, PTI reported.
The symptoms include convulsions, seizure and neurological symptoms and they are the same across age groups and gender, said state health commissioner K Bhasker Rao.
“Water, food and blood samples have been sent to the Forensic Science Laboratory (FSL). The reports are awaited. CT scan and X-ray reports of the parents are normal. COVID-19 tests were conducted for all the patients and the results were negative,” a doctor told The Hindu.
The central health ministry has constituted a three-member expert team led by AIIMS emergency health care head Dr Jamshed Nair, National Institute of Virology expert Dr Avinash Devashtawar and NDCC deputy director Dr Sanketh Kulakarni to investigate the outbreak and cause of the mysterious illness.
