Mysterious disease claims eight lives in Uttar Pradesh

LUCKNOW - A mysterious disease, marked by high fever, severe headache and vomiting, has claimed lives of eight people in the last 15 days in the Kanpur Dehat (rural) district of Uttar Pradesh, a health official said Tuesday.

“At least eight people have died of this mysterious disease in Vajayeepur village of Kanpur Dehat. We have not yet been able to identify the disease,” Kanpur Dehat’s additional Chief Medical Officer R.K. Singh told IANS.

The first death of 22-year-old Ramawati Dohrey was reported in the village Dec 15. Since then, seven more people have died.

“Following the directives of the district magistrate, several teams of health officials have been directed to camp in the village and conduct necessary medical check-ups to identify the disease,” he said.

The villagers, however, accused the health officials of not adopting any measures to control the disease that has affected dozens of families in Vajayeepur, about 150 km from state capital Lucknow.

“The ill-equipped community health centre (CHC) of our village has added to our worries. The centre fails to even provide basic health facilities to the patients as a result their condition deteriorates further,” Chunni Lal, a former head of the village, told reporters.

Amar Lal, a villager who lost his 35-year-old wife to the mysterious fever, said the health officials had a lethargic approach. “We have now registered a written complaint with the district administration,” Lal said.

He said many villagers have started migrating because of the disease.

“Even as the mysterious disease continues to spread in the village, the health staff is just not concerned about it. The residents of the village are now moving out just to ward off the disease,” Lal said.

“The matter is a serious one. I have already constituted a committee to look into it,” District Magistrate Saroj Tiwari told IANS.