There is a bit more clarity on what may have caused the outbreak of a ‘mystery disease’ at Eluru in Andhra Pradesh. Preliminary investigations conducted by AIIMS have revealed traces of lead and nickel in blood samples of patients suffering from the disease. Experts say that lead and nickel content in drinking water and milk could have caused the disease, which since evening of December 5, has left over 561 people sick and one person dead. Patients have complained of a variety of symptoms, including headache, vomiting, dizziness, anxiety, memory loss and convulsions. Doctors have been struggling with multiple challenges. Foremost among these is the lack of information on the cause of the disease. Consequently, doctors were treating patients for their symptoms. Besides, the sudden outbreak of the disease and the large number of cases put hospitals under immense pressure. The ‘mystery disease’ has also struck at a difficult time; health infrastructure is already under severe strain from the Covid-19 pandemic. Many patients had to be shifted to hospitals in nearby cities for treatment.
While the AIIMS study revealed presence of heavy metals in patients’ blood samples, this finding needs to be confirmed by more studies. We need to know whether this was indeed the trigger for the disease and why it led to an outbreak now. Were there other triggers that caused the heavy metals in people’s blood to react the way they did? The immediate focus of health authorities should be on treatment of patients and ensuring that there is no relapse of symptoms. Besides, there has been a crowding of patients in hospitals in recent days. A surge in Covid-19 infections is possible and health authorities must step up testing to contain any spread.
If the cause of the ‘mystery disease’ is indeed the presence of lead and nickel in water and milk, then the Eluru outbreak should serve as a wake-up call. Several studies, including the ones conducted by government bodies like the Central Water Commission, have been drawing attention to the high contamination of India’s water bodies by one or more heavy metals such as chromium, lead, nickel and iron. Although the presence of these metals in drinking water is known to slowly trigger muscular and neurological degeneration in our bodies, we have not acted robustly to reduce such contamination. A part of the reason for this laxity is that such degeneration often happens slowly. The outbreak of the ‘mystery disease’ at Eluru shows that the degeneration can be sudden and swift as well. It’s a warning we must heed.