Mystery illness lands at least 446 people in hospital in Andhra Pradesh's Eluru; youth most affected

Eluru, a town about 70 km north of Vijayawada, and its surroundings are in the grip of a mysterious illness.

Since Saturday, at least 446 locals have fallen ill and hospitalised with suddenly occurring symptoms like one-time epilepsy of 3 to 5 minutes, forgetfulness, anxiety, nausea, headache and back pain.

Most of the affected are the youth in a healthy condition, including several kids below 12 years of age.

A 45 year old man succumbed on Sunday night at the Eluru government hospital, while a few patients requiring better treatment were shifted to Vijayawada, Guntur. "Around 123 patients are under our care as of Monday night and the rest discharged," Dr AVR Mohan, hospital superintendent told DH.

Eluru is the headquarters of the West Godavari district, which is one of the worst Covid-19 affected areas of Andhra Pradesh. Till Monday, the district has registered close to 93,000 cases.

The new, unknown illness has added to the panic especially among the Eluru inhabitants. Officials said that 307 out of 340 cases (till Monday morning) are from the town, mostly concentrated in a few localities

Read | Andhra Pradesh CM Jagan visits patients affected by mysterious disease in Eluru

What is baffling the health authorities is that various kinds of tests conducted on drinking water, milk samples from the outbreak area and blood, urine analysis, CT scans of the patients turning out normal. Tests for Covid-19, chikungunya, dengue, HSV-2, etc., also came negative.

“Cell count of 35 cerebral spinal fluid samples were found to be normal while the culture report is yet to come. Analysis of 10 samples sent to Center for Cellular and Molecular Biology, Hyderabad is also awaited,” West Godavari collector Mutyala Raju said.

A health survey was conducted covering 57,863 households spread over 62 wards, villages.

“So far, the illness intensity is low and is found not spreading from one person to another,” the collector said, ruling out the possibility of the municipal water being the cause.

The peculiar, localised health condition has drawn the Central government's attention. A team comprising experts from AIIMS, New Delhi, National Institute of Virology, Pune and National Center for Disease Control will arrive in Eluru on Tuesday to ascertain the origins of the abrupt disease.

Researchers from the Hyderabad-based National Institute of Nutrition and Indian Council of Chemical Technology and doctors from the All India Institute of Medical Sciences, Mangalagiri, are already studying the outbreak.

On Monday, Chief Minister YS Jaganmohan Reddy visited the affected people undergoing treatment at the Eluru government hospital and offered all possible support.