The preliminary study by the All India Institute of Medical Sciences, Mangalagiri has found the mysterious disease that resulted in loss of one life and led to more than 500 people hospitalisated with complaints of epilepsy, convulsions, seizures and giddiness in Andhra Pradesh’s coastal town of Eluru was a case of “neuro-toxicity” caused by heavy metals like lead and nickel. As on Tuesday afternoon, as many as 505 cases have been reported from different parts of the town. “Of them, 332 were discharged after treatment,” hospital authorities reported.
A preliminary report was submitted to the state medical and health department on Monday night by the AIIMS authorities. They also have alled for some more tests to endorse the report. “We have tentatively identified the primary cause of this strange phenomenon, but it is not yet clear what its source is and how and why it has happened. For instance, the chemicals were found in the bodies of the patients but not in either water or any other food substance,” state health commissioner Katamaneni Bhaskar, involved in monitoring the situation at Eluru, told a news agency.
“We are hoping to get a clear picture of the situation in a day or two as experts are probing all angles to find out the root cause of the disease,” Bhaskar added, as the center's 3 member expert team arrives Eluru this evening. “It is a sudden onset of symptoms of convulsions and epilepsy which could be treated symptomatically,” he said and further informed that the mysterious disease was neither a bacterial or viral infection nor a contagious disease. The teams of World Health Organisation and AIIMS, Mangalagiri teams, has visited the affected areas to get firsthand information about the conditions of the patients and found the reason for the illness is beyond sanitation and the livelihood.
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1 dead, 350 in hospital in Andhra Pradesh as mystery illness hits Andhra Pradesh
