Parents break down on the death of their child at a Muzaffarpur hospital on Monday. Picture by Prakash Kumar

Patna, June 20: The “mystery” disease that has gripped Muzaffarpur and some other districts in north Bihar is sending shockwaves across the state.

The health department has sought the help of central agencies to identify and diagnose the disease that has already claimed more than 30 lives in the state.

The state government has referred to these diseases as “mysterious” and has said that these diseases could be Japanese encephalitis or meningitis. Apart from Muzaffarpur, several other districts in north Bihar, including Sheohar, East Champaran, Sitamarhi, Siwan and Gopalganj, have been affected.

Amarjit Sinha, the principal health secretary told The Telegraph: “We have sought help of central agencies for early detection of the disease. A team from National Institute of Virology (NIV), Pune, will come to Patna tomorrow and it will go to Muzaffarpur for the collection of samples.”

The state government official further said: “We have asked the NIV team to provide the reports within 10 days. Meanwhile, a team from National Centre for Infectious Diseases, New Delhi, will also reach the Patna to collect samples from the affected districts. The report on the samples collected from Muzaffarpur and other affected districts would be provided by Rajendra Memorial Research Institute (RMRI) before June 28.

Sinha also ruled out the possibility of any case of Japanese encephalitis being detected at Patna Medical College and Hospital (PMCH), as was reported in a newspaper.

Sinha said: “Based on the report provided by the paediatric department of PMCH, no case of Japanese encephalitis has been detected the hospital. The two children died of meningitis.”

Sinha also said no death was reported on Monday and the symptoms of only one person was similar to Japanese encephalitis. The man has been admitted to Sri Krishna Medical College and Hospital (SKMCH) in Muzaffarpur.

“Such cases are reported from Muzaffarpur every year and we are finding out why such cases occur regularly in Muzaffarpur and other north Bihar districts,” the principal health secretary said.

Sinha said the reasons behind the spread of the disease would be ascertained only after getting the test reports. He said whether this disease was Japanese encephalitis or some other disease would be known only after getting the reports.

Dr Om Prakash Choudhary, the medical superintendent of PMCH, said: “The hospital administration is well prepared to handle the cases as the PMCH has its own microbiology laboratory to test of such types of diseases.”