Mystery disease kills five in village

LUCKNOW: The death of five people, including four children, following an 'unknown' disease in a village in Nagram over the past week has left the health department in a fix.
The cause behind the deaths is yet to be ascertained. On Sunday, a team of doctors and experts from KGMU and the office of the chief medical officer visited Amwa Murtizapur village and took samples. The victims were said to have died following diarrhoea and fever, within a short period of the first symptoms.

The team headed by KGMU chief medical superintendent Dr SN Shankhwar collected blood samples of seven people and throat swabs of six. "Urine samples of the brothers of four dead children have also been taken. Families of the dead and their neighbours were asked questions. There are 10 fever patients in the village and one girl was admitted to civil hospital on Saturday night," said CMO Dr Narendra Agarwal.

The team from KGMU included physician Dr Kesarwani, Dr Reema from the social and preventive medicine department, Dr Siddharth from pediatrics, Dr Suruchi, Dr Shantanu from the microbiology department and microbiologist Dr Amit Bhagat. A temporary two-bed hospital was also set up. Round-the-clock duties of additional CMOs have been assigned till June 20.