Around 21 people have died in India in the past few months after the outbreak of the Guillain-Barre Syndrome in Maharashtra's Pune. Ever since, 17 deaths were reported in Maharashtra, one in Andhra Pradesh's Guntur and one death each in West Bengal, Assam and Tamil Nadu. The incidents are linked to a bacteria named Campylobacter jejuni, which is transmitted through contaminated water and results in Guillain-Barre Syndrome (GBS). It was detected in around 30% of the samples collected from affected patients by the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR). The root cause of the outbreak is still unclear, though the water supplied in the areas where the victims lived was often termed the reason. The water supplied in Pune and its nearby villages is suspected to harbour the pathogen. The bacteria also spreads through undercooked chicken dishes, unhygienic food, and untreated water from public sources like wells, rivers and lakes. 

Travel restrictions
Union Minister of AYUSH, Prataprao Jadhav, said on Monday that the disease is currently spreading across regions, so imposing travel restrictions might become necessary. However, as GBS is not a contagious disease, experts opine that imposing travel restrictions need not stop its spread. Controlling the source of the infection, Campylobacter jejuni is the solution to the problem. This will include ensuring safely treated drinking water, sanitation, hygiene, food safety monitoring, and early infection treatment. 
'Campylobacter jejuni' has over 500 search volume on Google Trends in the past few hours. 

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