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Heavy metals such as lead and nickel were discovered in the blood of victims of a mysterious disease detected Saturday in a southern Indian city, which affects more than 500 people.
The Indian government sent a medical team of experts from the National Institute of Virology, the National Center for Disease Control and the Indian Institute of Medical Sciences to Eluru, Andhra Pradesh state, to investigate this disease that appeared last Saturday, causing seizures, nausea, and chronic pain.
Throughout, 555 people were admitted to hospitals since Saturday, of which 80 this Tuesday, according to hospital sources, and although most of the patients have managed to return home, a 45 year old man died not sunday.
Blood samples taken from 10 people showed high levels of lead and nickel, according to Eluru hospital director AV Mohan.
Andhra Pradesh state authorities have ordered an investigation into the origin of heavy metals in patients’ bodies, but according to Mohan, the samples are too few to say with certainty that lead and nickel caused the disease. that spread in a city of 200 thousand people.
The water and milk beverages were tested and the experts also took samples of rice and cooking oil, as well as urine for analysis.
Some local officials have hypothesized that the mysterious disease is associated with chemical additives in pesticides.
“Some people think it is mass hysteria, but it is not,” said AS Ram, chief physician at Eluru hospital, claiming that most of the people in the hospital had shown actual symptoms.
“Most patients come in with minor head injuries or a black eye after suddenly fainting. But within an hour or two, most improve,” he said.
“However, we cannot diagnose what is causing these symptoms,” he added.
At the same time, India, faced with the covid-19 pandemic, ranks second in the world in terms of contamination, with almost 10 million cases.
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