No Clues Yet to Mystery Illness in Eluru
Though samples of blood, urine, water, milk, crops etc have been collected and tested, the reports have not been released. It remains a mystery as to what these reports indicated vis-à-vis reasons for the health issue.
Vijayawada: The causes for an illness that caused people to suffer convulsions for a brief period -- and regaining normalcy soon – in Eluru during December 2020 still remain a mystery.
As several villagers started suffering convulsions in parts of Eluru, the state government roped in several central agencies including AIIMS, the National Institute of Nutrition, the National Centre for Disease Control, CCMB, IICT, WHO and others to identify the causes.
Some reports suggested a deadly combo of neurotoxins like lead and organochlorine hydrocarbon pesticide such as DDT with chlorine content complimenting each other to become a poisonous substance in the human body and affecting the nervous tissue, causing the affected people to suffer convulsions.
Though samples of blood, urine, water, milk, crops etc have been collected and tested, the reports have not been released. It remains a mystery as to what these reports indicated vis-à-vis reasons for the health issue.
Eluru district health officer PJ Amrutham said, “We knew about the mystery illness that affected some people in Eluru but we don’t have any reports now. We have issued instructions to the medical officers to be on alert elsewhere too.”