Many people from Eluru, a city in India’s southern state of Andhra Pradesh, have come down with a strange illness: one person has already died because of the disease, and no less than 227 have been hospitalized, the Times of India reports.
According to experts, the mysterious disease manifests itself with a wide range of symptoms: from nausea to severe seizures, similar to an epileptic attack. Many patients, especially children, also complained of symptoms such as burning eyes, vomiting, and cramping, others have lost consciousness. Meanwhile, none of the victims had COVID-19 confirmed, although Andhra Pradesh takes up the third place in the country in terms of the cases.
Interestingly, most patients are young people aged 20-30, Medportal.ru reports.
Local health authorities have ruled out water and food contamination as possible causes for the disease.
“It is some mystery illness and only lab analysis will reveal what it is,” media reports noted.
The disease will be investigated by a specially created group of experts from the ICMR-National Institute of Nutrition, the Institute of Chemical Technology, and the All India Institute of Medical Sciences.
Representatives of opposition parties and independent experts are sure the state government is trying to hide the real reason for the incident, related to environmental problems. The insect repellents containing toxic substances might have been one of the reasons, causing the disease.
