Yet, in another incidence of outbreak of the mysterious disease in Komirepalli village in West Godavari district, 22 villagers fell sick with epilepsy, convulsions, giddiness, fever and other symptoms on Friday.
Patients were rushed to Eluru District Government Headquarters Hospital and to the local Primary Health Centres (PHCs) and Community Health Centres (CHCs).
Health Minister Alla Kali Krishna Srinivas, along with Denduluru MLA Abbaiah Chowdary, Joint Collector Himanshu Shukla, District Medical and Health Officer Sunandha, State Medical Board member Divisala Vara Prasad and other officials visited Komirepalli village and enquired the health condition of the patients.
The Minister said that a medical camp has been arranged in the village and medical teams have been deployed. Doctors were monitoring the situation in Komirepalli, he said.
About 700 patients fall sick due to the unknown disease in the last one and a half month in West Godavari district. They were being treated in Eluru, Bhimadole, Pulla, Denduluru and other hospitals. Tension prevailed in Eluru and Kolleru bed villages with the disease spreading to other hamlets in the district.
One month ago, expert doctors and researches from WHO, AIIMS, NIN, NIV, NCDC, IICT and other organisations collected samples from Eluru and other villages and found that nickel contents were found in the blood samples of the patients.
But, the doctors did not reveal on how the chemicals entered into the patient’s bodies.
“Doctors collected water, food, blood, milk, vegetables and other samples from the affected villages and sent to Regional Forensic Science Laboratory (RFSL), Vijayawada, for analysis,” said Mr. Himanshu Shukla.
The Minister directed the Municipal, Medical and Health, Public Health and Revenue department personnel to take up sanitation in all villages in the district.
On December, the disease was detected in Eluru and after a few days patients had sudden fall and were hospitalised in the neighbouring areas. Recently, about 29 patients fell sick with similar symptoms in Pulla village in Bhimadole mandal in West Godavari district.
