Unknown disease infects over 300 children in Andhra Pradesh’s Eluru
09 Dec 2020
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Amidst signs of the Corona virus threat slowly receding, reports say scores of people, including more than 300 children, have been infected with a hither-to undiagnosed disease, which is spreading fast in Eluru in Andhra Pradesh. Blood samples of the infected have been sent io the All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) and results are awaited.
The centre is rushing a team of medical experts to Eluru, following Vice President M Venkaiah Naidu’s intervention after scores of children were hospitalised with an undiagnosed illness in the past few days.
Vice President is reported to have alerted health minister Dr Harsh Vardhan after confirming the development with the district collector of Eluru and the director of AIIMS at Mangalagiri and Director, AIIMS Delhi to ensure testing of blood samples of the children.
The children reportedly suffered from dizziness, fainting spells, headache and vomiting, raising possibilities of poisioning.
A poison control team from AIIMS had also discussed the matter with doctors at Eluru regarding the incidence on Sunday.
Reports citing district collector Revu Mutyala Raju said that necessary measures are being taken to ascertain the reasons for the illness among the children, adding that medical teams from Guntur and Krishna districts are now engaged in door-to-door survey.
The union health ministry informed that in the wake of the available epidemiological and clinical data from the district, a central team comprising Dr Jamshed Nayar (Associate Professor of Emergency Medicine at AIIMS), Dr Avinash Deoshtawar (Virologist at NIV Pune) and Dr Sanket Kulkarni (Dy Director and PH expert from NCDC-Delhi) are being sent to Eluru.
