New Delhi: Indian health officials have found traces of nickel and lead in some blood samples taken from hundreds of patients admitted to a hospital in the southern state for a mysterious illness, officials said.
The Andhra Pradesh state government said in a statement on Tuesday night that an investigation by experts from the All India Institute of Medical Sciences could not lead to excess nickel and dust in patients’ blood.
“We are awaiting reports of other tests carried out by experts in the subject of Indian chemical technology, including reports of toxicology and blood cultures,” the statement said.
Health officials and experts are still wondering how heavy metals got into the blood of patients, and whether it is the cause of this mysterious disease that has caused 585 people to be hospitalized and one person to die in Andhra Pradesh. The disease was first found on Saturday evening in El Luru, famous for its hand-woven products.
State health official Geeta Prasadini said the sick people started the attack without any warning.
Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister Y.S. Jaganmohan Reddy held a virtual meeting on Wednesday which included experts from India’s top scientific institutes. Reddy said 502 people suffering from the disease have been discharged after showing improvement.
Patients showed symptoms ranging from nausea and restlessness to loss of consciousness.
The perplexing experts are that there is no common link among the hundreds of people who have fallen ill. All patients have tested negative for coronavirus and other viral diseases such as dengue, chickenpox and herpes. Patients are not related to each other and not all live in the same area. They are from different age groups, including about 70 children, but very few are older.
Contaminated water was initially suspected. But the chief minister’s office has confirmed that people who do not use the municipal water supply have also fallen ill, and no harmful chemicals have been revealed in the initial tests of the water samples.
A 45-year-old man named Shridhar was admitted to the hospital with symptoms like epilepsy and died on Sunday evening, doctors said. Prasadini said his autopsy did not shed any light on the cause of death.
Andhra Pradesh is the state most affected by the coronavirus, with more than 800,000 cases. The state’s health system, like the rest of India, has been ravaged by the virus.
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