- Hello Jeff - The illness in West Bengal that is killing
children is thought to be Influenza B. I am wondering how Influenza B
would cause some of the symptoms described including salivation and stiffening
of the jaw. Some symptoms, however, did sound reminiscent of Madagascar
Mystery Illness. Only children are victims of this disease which is also
curious to me. Influenza B would surely affect the total population, especially
elderly.
-
- I must admit that Influenza B does sound more legitimate
then the cause that the Indian government claimed. The government claimed
that the illness causing children's deaths was caused by bad weather.
-
- Also the death toll in Andhra Pradesh continues to rise
from a disease that was originally thought to be a form of Japanese Encephalitis.
Both adults and children have succumbed to the illness.
-
- Patricia Doyle
-
- A ProMed Mail Post
-
- [1] Date: Fri, 11 Jul 2003 Source: Sify.com [edited]
http://sify.com/news/scienceandmedicine/fullstory.php?id=13195608&vsv=94
-
- 4 more deaths and 6 fresh cases of mysterious fever have
been reported, taking the casualty toll in the current spread of suspected
encephalitis to 84 in 6 districts of Andhra Pradesh. Unofficial sources
had put the death toll at 103, but the Health Services Director said that
the latest figure was 84, including 4 more deaths in the last 24 hours.
A child in Warangal and 3 children in adjoining Karimnagar district died,
while 6 fresh cases -- 3 from each of the 2 districts -- were reported,
taking the number of cases to 157. The official gave the breakdown as Warangal
66, Karimnagar 58, Nizamabad 11, Adilabad 9, Krishna 11, and Nellore 2.
-
- As anti-vector measures, the authorities conducted anti-larval
operations in 171 villages of Karimnagar and 33 villages in Warangal. Besides,
fogging was done in 37 villages of Karimnagar and 23 of Warangal. Pyrethrum
was sprayed in 37 villages of Karimnagar and 23 of Warangal, while malathion
spraying was conducted in 12 villages of Karimnagar and 10 of Warangal.
As part of the preventive and control measures taken, chlorination of
drinking water sources was regularly checked on residual chlorine. Altogether
84 medical and paramedical teams have been deployed to conduct surveillance
and for treatment, the Director said in a statement.
-
- However, as more casualties were reported, the Government
constituted a 5-member committee of experts to conduct a detailed analysis
and suggest remedial measures to stop the spate of viral fever deaths in
the State. At a review meeting on the precautionary measures, Chief Minister
N Chandrababu Naidu said anti-mosquito operations should be taken up in
the State for the next 3 months on a war-footing. In a press release later,
he said a detailed calender should be formulated to raise awareness and
take up cleaning operations like road sweeping, keeping the premises clean
and tidy, chlorinating drinking water, and intensifying the anti-larvae
operations. Audio and video cassettes, pamphlets, and posters should be
brought out to spread awareness. The Chief Minister will be holding a
150-minute discussion with officials and the public to take up preventive
measures to curtail the spread of diseases especially, SVE [suspected viral
encephalitis -- see newswire below - Mod.MPP], GE [? JE - Japanese encephalitis]
and dengue in the State. The programme would be telecast live on Ku Band,
Doordarshan Saptagiri (DD-8) and In-Cable.
-
- -- ProMED-mail <promed@promedmail.org>
-
- ******
- [2] Date: 11 Jul 2003
- From: ProMED-mail <promed@promedmail.org>
- Source: Hindustani Times 10 Jan 2003 [edited] http://www.hindustantimes.com/news/181_303870,0008.htm
-
- Andhra Viral Fever Toll Mounts To 87 State Machinery
On High Alert
-
- With 10 more deaths of children due to viral fever in
3 districts of Andhra Pradesh, the toll has mounted to 87, even as the
state machinery has been put on high alert to check its spread.
-
- During the last 24 hours, 5 deaths were reported from
Warangal, 4 in Karimnagar, and one in Ranga Reddy district, official sources
said.
-
- Expressing concern over the alarming rise in death rate
among children due to the viral fever, Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu
announced setting up of a 5-member expert committee to conduct an analysis
of the suspected viral encephalitis (SVE), they said.
-
- The expert committee is expected to submit its report
in a couple of days, they said.
-
- Naidu, who earlier had announced an ex-gratia payment
of Rs 50,000 [USD 1084] for each of the family of the deceased, exempted
medical and health staff from taking part in the ongoing janmabhoomi community
development programme. He asked them to be on high alert in Telangana districts
of Adilabad, Karimnagar, Warangal, Nalgonda and Nizamabad districts.
-
- Niloufer hospital superintendent Dr Nck Reddy said 3
children who were brought in a bad condition on Wednesday, died within
an hour, and about 10 children with similar symptoms were undergoing treatment.
-
- Medical teams from National Institute of Communicable
Diseases, Delhi, and National Institute of Virology, Pune, have collected
the blood samples to identify the virus and the reports are awaited, official
sources said.
-
- The state would set up a research and analysis cell to
conduct a detailed investigation into the SVE outbreaks reported in certain
pockets of the state in 2002 to carry out a comparative study, according
to an official release.
-
- The cell would submit its report soon besides advising
the health department on the measures to be taken to contain SVE and other
undiagnosed outbreaks, it said.
-
- -- ProMED-mail <promed@promedmail.org>
-
- [In the last ProMED-mail posting on this outbreak (see
Unexplained deaths - India (Andhra Pradesh) (02) 20030709.1679), there
was a suggestion that preliminary testing at the "New Delhi-based
National Institute Communicable Diseases and Pune's National Institute
of Virology" had identified Japanese encephalitis as the etiology
of this outbreak. The above newswire further supports this, as there are
vector control activities underway, presumably aimed at interrupting the
vector-borne transmission of Japanese encephalitis (see comments on earlier
referenced ProMED-mail article for listing of known vectors in India).
It should be noted that all of the information posted thus far on ProMED-mail
related to this outbreak comes from newswire reports and not from official
reports from either the Andhra Pradesh Department of Health or the National
Ministry of Health. More information on this outbreak and investigation
from official sources would be appreciated. - Mod.MPP]
-
-
- UNDIAGNOSED DEATHS, CHILDREN - INDIA (WEST BENGAL) (07)
-
- ************** A ProMED-mail post
- <http://www.promedmail.org>
- ProMED-mail is a program of the International Society
for Infectious Diseases <http://www.isid.org>
-
- Date: 11 Jul 2003 From: ProMED-mail <promed@promedmail.org>
- Source: WHO India website (11-15 June 2003) [accessed
11 Jul 2003] <http://www.whoindia.org/Happenings/Outbreak/feveroutbreakWB.htm>
-
-
- A Preliminary Report of an investigation of a Fever Cases
in Murshidabad District, West Bengal ------------------ Cases of fever
with respiratory symptoms were reported in the district during the months
of May and June 2003. The Rapid Response Team of the district, a team
from National Institute of Enteric Diseases, Kolkatta National Institute
of Virology, Pune, along with the National Institute of Communicable Diseases
investigated the episode. A total of 719 cases and 45 deaths were reported
during the period 15 May - 14 Jun 2003. 80 percent of the deaths were
reported in children under 10 years of age. The laboratory investigation
carried out showed the possibility of influenza B virus infection as the
cause of this episode. The virus isolation results are awaited.
-
- Summary
-
- In response to a news item, a team from National Institute
of Communicable Diseases investigated the fever cases in Murshidabad district
of West Bengal during 11-15 Jun 2003.
-
- A total of 719 cases and 45 deaths have been reported
during the period from 15 May to 14 Jun 2003.
-
- Maximum numbers of (82.2 percent) deaths were reported
in children below 5 yrs. of age. No deaths were reported in the age group
10 years and above.
-
- An overall fever rate of 14.2 percent was observed in
the community during the one-month period affecting all age groups and
both genders. Maximum attack rate (31.7 percent) was in children below
5 years of age.
-
- The cases presented mainly with fever, running nose,
cough, and diarrhea. Respiratory distress and convulsions were also present
in a few cases, especially in those reporting to hospital. The duration
of illness in majority of the cases varied from 2-5 days.
-
- The team collected 9 sera and clots. 4 throat swabs and
4 stool samples were also collected. In addition, the team brought 12 sera
samples collected on 8 Jun 2003.
-
- At NICD laboratories, the samples tested negative for
antibodies against measles and herpes. In addition, 4 blood clots were
cultured for bacteria and found sterile. High antibody titres were observed
against Influenza A & B in most of the patients. However a second sample
is required for confirmation. One patient showed the presence of Influenza
B antigen in a throat swab. In this sample high antibody titre (1:80) against
Influenza B suggest that that the case had infection due to Influenza B
virus.
-
- The clinico-epidemiological findings show that the present
episode of fever consists of respiratory tract infections and affects all
age groups with predominance among younger people. The laboratory investigations
indicate that the present episode of fever could be due to Influenza B
virus. Further tests are in progress to isolate the specific aetiological
agents.
-
- -- ProMED-mail <promed@promedmail.org>
-
- [ProMED-mail just became aware of this official report
on the WHO India Representation website today. It should be noted that
this report is dated 11-15 Jun 2003, approximately one month ago, and therefore
more recent information may be available. The identification of influenza
B in one specimen is noted, but the initial descriptions of this outbreak
did not seem consistent with influenza (as per the first ProMED-mail posting,
"high fever, breathlessness, convulsion, increased salivation, followed
by stiffening of jaws within 5-6 hours of the onset of the disease and
death".) In the 12 Jun 2003 ProMED-mail posting, a direct report
from a physician in West Bengal mentioned "More than 300 have been
attacked by the disease, which killed more than 56 persons."
-
- The above report suggests that the majority of cases
in this outbreak had a respiratory illness that could be classified as
influenza-like, and that the observed case fatality rate was approximately
6.3 percent. ProMED-mail would be interested in additional information
on further studies of this outbreak, more information on the clinico-epidemiologic
investigation, and the results of any toxicologic studies that may have
been conducted. - Mod.MPP]
-
- Patricia A. Doyle, PhD Please visit my "Emerging
Diseases" message board at: http://www.clickitnews.com/ubbthreads/postlist.php?
- Cat=&Board=emergingdiseases
-
- Zhan le Devlesa tai sastimasa Go with God and in Good
Health
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