JAMMU: The mystery illness plaguing residents of Badhaal village in Kotranka area of J&K’s Rajouri district claimed two more lives in the past 24 hours — that of a six-year-old girl and her 62-year-old relative — taking the death toll to 14 since Dec last year, including four siblings since Sunday alone.
The child, Safina Kousar, died at Jammu’s SMGS hospital Tuesday, hours after her father’s maternal uncle, Mohd Yusuf, succumbed at GMC Rajouri around 9.40pm Monday. Authorities, meanwhile, were yet to obtain FSL reports of even those who died in Dec. While locals have been left terrified, strangely, only Safina’s family and their relatives living in Badhaal have so far been affected, not other residents, officials said.
On Sunday, Safina and five of her siblings were admitted to GMC Rajouri with symptoms of fever, sweating, vomiting, and dehydration after consuming sweet rice at a ‘fatiha’ function organised by their grandfather. The siblings were shifted to Jammu’s SMGS hospital after their condition deteriorated. Naveena Kousar (5) died around 1.45pm Sunday, followed by her brother Zahoor Ahmed (14) at 4.30pm the same day. The third sibling, Mohd Maroof (8), succumbed around 9.25am Monday while Safina (6) breathed her last Tuesday.
Earlier in Dec, nine members of two families had succumbed to similar symptoms. These families were related to Safina’s family.
Officials said two more teams of experts from National Centre for Disease Control, New Delhi, and Institute of Epidemiology, Chennai, would be visiting Badhaal to probe the mystery illness. The teams would assess the situation and find the cause behind the deaths.
“Rajouri deputy commissioner Abhishek Sharma is personally monitoring the situation to ensure timely intervention and mitigation. Food and water samples have already been collected from the village to ascertain the quality and safety of essential supplies in the region. As many as 272 samples were collected on Monday to identify the potential health risks,” said an official statement from the district administration.
A dedicated team of the health department, led by director (health) Jammu, Dr Rakesh Mangotra, and accompanied by Rajouri chief medical officer Dr Manohar Rana is camping at Kotranka to oversee the operations, the statement said, adding that a mobile medical unit and ambulance were kept on stand-by to assist in any emergency.
