Samastipur civil surgeon Anil Kumar has constituted rapid response teams to look into child deaths because of a “mystery disease” that showed symptoms similar to acute encephalitis syndrome that has gripped a number of districts.

Four medical teams, led by Dr Bibhash Ranjan, Dr S.K. Chaudhary, Dr Mahesh Chandra and Dr Satish Kumar Sinha, would visit different blocks of the district, including Bibhutipur and Pusa blocks, where at least 11 children reportedly died last week, between June 18 and June 21.

District magistrate Kundan Kumar had directed the civil surgeon on Saturday to constitute the medical teams and take stock of the situation. Each team has been assigned four or five blocks.

The doctors would first visit the primary health centres and check the patients. If their condition are found to be critical, the patients would be referred to Samastipur Sadar Hospital, where a special ward has been set up to deal with acute encephalitis syndrome cases.

Samastipur Sadar Hospital deputy superintendent Dr Ashok Vardhan Sahay told The Telegraph: “We have set up a special ward to deal with cases of acute encephalitis syndrome. But no patients have come in yet.”

The hospital, however, is not fully equipped to deal with the quandary. “We do not have any doctor skilled to deal with acute encephalitis syndrome cases. Also, we do not have a ventilation machine that us required to treat the patients,” said Sahay.