Mystery illness strikes down hundreds, kills one in rural India

Name: Mystery illness in southern India kills 1, sends over 450 to hospital
Uploaded: 2020-12-08T02:01:37.000Z
Duration: 1 min 38 s
Description: Mystery illness in southern India kills 1, sends over 450 to hospital

More than 400 people have been hospitalised in the southern state of Andhra Pradesh, but health officials say tests ruled out Covid-19 as the culprit

Authorities have been investigating water supplies at 20 locations within the city of Eluru where the outbreak was first reported

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Mystery illness in southern India kills 1, sends over 450 to hospital

Reutersin Bhubaneswar/Chennai

Published: 10:01am, 8 Dec 2020Updated: 1:34pm, 8 Dec 2020

One person has died and more than 400 have been hospitalised in southern India from an unidentified infection that caused many to fall unconscious following seizures and nausea.

Government and medical authorities in the southern state of Andhra Pradesh said that more than 200 people were discharged at the weekend and that tests had ruled out Covid-19, the infection caused by the novel coronavirus. Further serological tests are under way.

“The causes of the outbreak are not known yet,” the state government said in a statement on Monday, adding that people in all age groups appeared prone to the infection.

A young patient is brought in a wheelchair to the district government hospital in Eluru on Sunday. Photo: AP

Separately, India’s federal health ministry said on Monday it would send a team of three medical experts to investigate the outbreak, which has infected more than 300 children, it said.

“The children reportedly suffered from dizziness, fainting spells, headache and vomiting,” the ministry said, adding that a door-to-door survey was also under way.