Mysterious disease, worse than COVID, claims 17 lives in Kashmir's Rajouri in just a month: Details

The health department of Jammu and Kashmir is struggling to identify a mysterious disease that has already claimed the lives of 17 persons who attended a wedding function in the Rajouri district. A person named Faisal Hussein and his four children were the first in the village to fall ill and lose their lives. The authorities still aren’t able to find the exact cause of the mysterious disease that surfaced on December 7 last year. Meanwhile, 17 more people from three families in the same village have died.

Symptoms of the disease
As per reports, the victims were admitted to hospitals with high fever, body pain, vomiting and loss of consciousness. All of them died a few days after they were accepted. They had attended the wedding of Sulthana, the daughter of Fasal Hussein, on December 2. Fasal and his four children died on December 7 and 8. Later, Muhammad Rafeeq’s pregnant wife, two sons and a daughter sought treatment at the hospital with fever and loss of consciousness. This alerted the health department to act promptly. However, the pregnant woman and her three children died a few days later.

Food poisoning ruled out
Initially, the authorities suspected food poisoning since Fasal and Rafeeq were relatives and were at the same wedding venue. However, the tests of the samples collected from the venue ruled out food poisoning. Multiple deaths were then reported in the family of Aslam. Aslam’s five children, uncle and aunt died between January 12 and 17, making theirs one of the worst affected families in the village. Now, the panicked villagers refuse to even get out of their homes. With high mortality rate, the disease is said to be worse than the Covid 19 pandemic.

Experts visit village
Meanwhile, the authorities have urged the villagers to stay away from public gatherings or conducting events like weddings. Health experts from various institutes nationwide, including the National Institute of Virology, have visited the village and collected food and water samples. The presence of neurotoxins was reportedly found in the samples collected from the dead. The experts do not rule out the chance of an epidemic either. However, more tests and probes must be done to confirm these reports. Meanwhile, Home Minister Amit Shah has appointed a special team to investigate the incident. The central team had already visited the village, including the homes of the deceased. The 16-member team is headed by an officer of director rank from the Ministry of Home Affairs.