Jamshedpur, Nov. 25: A “mysterious” disease has apparently struck a Seraikela village where four persons, including three children, have died in less than 24 hours.
The minors were identified as Baso (6), Som (4) and Sohan (2) — children of Banmali Besra — who died within a couple of hours yesterday afternoon in Kasidih village. The fourth victim, an unidentified middle-aged man who had come to the village a few days ago, died this morning.
About six other residents of the same village, including Besra, his wife and two siblings, were today rushed to Mahatma Gandhi Memorial Medical College and Hospital with similar symptoms the deceased had complained of but the doctors in Seraikela-Kharsawan had failed to diagnose the disease.
Seraikela subdivisional magistrate Meghu Baraik, who accompanied the patients to the medical college, said the startling fact is that all the three children were in healthy condition in the morning. “In fact, their neighbours said Banmali and his wife had been complaining of mild fever and bodyache for the past few days,” he said.
He added that keeping in mind the complicated nature of the disease, he has ordered for post-mortem by a medical board comprising experts from forensic medicine, toxicology, microbiology and pathology departments. “We want to find the cause of the death at the earliest so that preventive measures can be taken. The medical board has been requested to prepare the post-mortem report within 24 hours,” said Baraik.
However, sources in the medical board said preparing the reports within 24 hours is impossible. “We understand the urgency but complex pathological tests take 48 to 72 hours. We expect to give a clear picture about the disease only after all the investigations are completed. Based on the test that have already been completed, we can say that the three deaths were due to cerebral malaria,” said sources.
A senior doctor at MGM said the patients admitted today also have symptoms of cerebral malaria. “Probably, the doctors at Seraikela failed to detect the disease and administer medicines on time. When three deaths had taken place within a couple of hours they thought that it was a mystery disease,” the doctor added.
Seraikela-Kharsawan civil surgeon Shiv Shankar Birua said the symptoms of the children are that of cerebral malaria but “we are not ready to jump to any conclusion”.
“At present, I can only say that the deaths are probably due to cerebral malaria,” said Birua.
He added that keeping in mind the incidence of malaria across the state, the department has decided to do mass radical treatment. A camp has been set up in the village and all the families of the area would be administered a dose of malaria to ensure that no deaths take place because of this disease, he said.