The disease caused people to suddenly lose consciousness after suffering seizures and nausea.
Hyderabad:
Traces of lead and nickel are present in the blood of people who contracted the mysterious disease in Eluru of Andhra Pradesh, doctors from the Indian Institute of Medical Sciences have discovered. The number of people reporting symptoms has risen to 556 today, 458 people were discharged and only 98 patients are still in the hospital undergoing tests. The patients included more than 45 children under 12 years of age. All complained of seizures, nausea, and fainting. One person, aged 45, died on December 5.
Doctors have been trying to diagnose the disease, which hit parts of the city last week amid the Covid outbreak. A battery of teams from various medical organizations and hospitals are working to detect the cause.
Today, a statement from the Chief Minister’s Office said preliminary findings indicated the presence of lead and nickel in the blood that could have caused the symptoms.
“The Indian Institute of Chemical Technology and other institutes are conducting further tests and the results are expected soon,” the statement from the Chief Minister’s Office said.
Chief Minister Jagan Mohan Reddy has told authorities to “investigate how lead and nickel particles could have entered the bodies of the people of that region and called for a detailed study and report.”
Reddy has also asked public health personnel and other departments to “thoroughly investigate the issue and find out the reasons for the illness,” the statement read.
What authorities have pointed out is that seizure and blackout episodes seem to occur only once. The water source for the different reported cases is not the same. No more than one member per family has reported symptoms. The disease does not appear to be transmitted from person to person.
“Our first tests ruled out heavy metals. Even organochlorine could cause these types of neurological symptoms,” said a source.
Mr. Reddy, who visited the hospital in Eluru yesterday where about 150 patients are admitted, met with the governor today to discuss the situation. Following the advice of Governor Biswa Bhusan Harichandan to receive help from the central institutes, teams from AIIMS Delhi, the National Institute of Nutrition, the Indian Institute of Chemical Technology (IICT) and the Center for Cellular and Molecular Biology were dispatched.
The state medical director has said that test reports should be compiled for analysis.
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