‘Nobody knows’: Experts are baffled bymystery illness
Healthofficials NEWDELHI— andexpertsarestillbaffledby amysterious illness that has left over 500 people hospitalized and one person dead in the southern Indian state of Andhra Pradesh.
The illness was first detected Saturday evening in Eluru, anancient cityfamous for its hand-woven products. People started convulsing without any warning, said Geeta Prasadini, the director of public health.
Sincethen,symptomsranging from nausea and anxiety to loss of consciousness have been reported in 546 patients admitted to hospitals. Many have recovered and returned home, while 148are still being treated, said Dasari Nagarjuna, a government spokesperson.
Teams of experts have arrivedatthecityfromIndia’s topscientificinstitutes. Different theories have been suggested and are being tested. The most recent hypothesis is contamination of food by pesticides.
“But nobody knows,” Prasadini admitted.
What is confounding experts is that there doesn’t seem to be any commonlink among the hundreds of peoplewhohavefallen sick. All of the patients have tested negative for COVID-19 and other viral diseases such as dengue, chikungunya or herpes.
They aren’t related to each other. They don’t all live in the same area. They’re from different age groups, including about 70 children, but very few are elderly.
Initially,contaminatedwater was suspected. But the chief minister’s office confirmed thatpeoplewhodon’tuse the municipalwater supplyhave also fallen ill, and that initial tests of water samples didn’t revealanyharmfulchemicals.
A 45-year-old man was hospitalized with symptoms resembling epilepsyanddied Sunday, doctors said. Prasadini said his autopsy didn’t shed any light on the cause of death.
The hypothesis being tested is that people ate vegetables tainted with pesticides madeof organic compounds containing phosphorus.