Mysterious viral fever in Moradabad claims seven lives - Identified as Influenza B

[Treyfish]

By Vibhav Porav, Moradabad, Aug 28 : Seven children died and several others are hospitalized due to a mysterious viral fever in Bhainsia village in Uttar Pradesh's Moradabad city.
<TABLE align=left><TBODY><TR><TD><SCRIPT type=text/javascript><!--google_ad_client = "pub-1318167688658577";/* 300x250 */google_ad_slot = "9411244424";google_ad_width = 300;google_ad_height = 250;//--></SCRIPT><SCRIPT type=text/javascript src="http://pagead2.googlesyndication.com/pagead/show_ads.js"></SCRIPT><SCRIPT src="http://pagead2.googlesyndication.com/pagead/expansion_embed.js"></SCRIPT><SCRIPT src="http://googleads.g.doubleclick.net/pagead/test_domain.js"></SCRIPT><SCRIPT src="http://pagead2.googlesyndication.com/pagead/render_ads.js"></SCRIPT><SCRIPT>google_protectAndRun("render_ads.js ::google_render_ad", google_handleError, google_render_ad);</SCRIPT></TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE>Three of the children died on Friday (August 27) and four last week.

Due to demise of children within one week, villagers are worried and are blaming authorities for the improper sanitation of the village area.

The mother of an infected child said that children are getting infected by a mysterious disease, the symptoms of which include throat infection, due to which children are not able to eat anything and after that swelling on their ears, which later causes death.

"Doctors are saying there is no cure for this disease in the entire city and are referring the diseased children to New Delhi for advanced treatment. By the time villagers take their children to Delhi, the children die on the way," said Premwati, mother of an infected child.

The Chief Medical Officer (CMO) of the city said the viral infection is causing due to changes in weather, which affected the brains of the infected children.

"The children who have less immunity, they easily get lung and chances of pneumonia is more in them due to which, they get infections in brain, and it leads to their deaths," said R. K. Saxena, Chief Medical Officer at Moradabad.

"Our team of doctors are already helping the villagers and around 10 children have been referred to the hospital till today, to whom doctors are giving their best treatment," he added.

The children of the village are being admitted into the hospitals of the Moradabad city as doctors and municipal workers hasten to contain the outbreak. http://www.newkerala.com/news2/fullnews-30221.html
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[Ronan Kelly]

Re: Mysterious viral fever in Moradabad claims seven lives

Death of children in Moradabad put officials on alert

Moradabad, Aug 28 : As many as seven deaths of children due to mysterious fever in the last two days in a village of this Uttar Pradesh district has put the health authorities on alert.


The authorities have denied incidence of encephalitis in the village and attributed 'critical viral' fever as the cause of deaths in Bhaisia village near district headquarters.

Earlier on August 25, three children died of 'viral' fever in the same village prompting district authorities to set up a camp in the village beside sounding an alert in adjacent villages as well, the official sources said.

At least 15 other children were admitted to hospital with the same complaint of high fever and lump in throat with some symptoms of secondary infection, the sources said. Blood samples of affected children have been sent for further investigation, health officials said.


--UNI

http://www.newkerala.com/news2/fullnews-30104.html

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Re: Mysterious viral fever in Moradabad claims seven lives - Acute Encephalitis Suspected

http://www.ndtv.com/article/india/uttar-pradesh-encephalitis-leaves-more-than-200-dead-in-gorakhpur-47684

Uttar Pradesh: Encephalitis leaves more than 200 dead in Gorakhpur
NDTV Correspondent, Updated: August 28, 2010 13:48 IST

Gorakhpur: Thirteen deaths in 48 hours, it is encephalitis nightmare in Gorakhpur. All the beds at the Gorakhpur Medical College are taken, mostly by children suffering from Acute Encephalitis Syndrome, a more dangerous form of the disease than Japanese encephalitis.

"There are two times the numbers of patients of AES here in proportion to JE. This one is worse because it ruins all these organs in the body which JE didn't and that's why it's harder to save the patient," said Dr Khushwaha, HOD, Paediatrics Department, Gorakhpur medical college.

Nassel Bhai, father of a 15-yr-old daughter who dies due to encephalitis, does not understand all this, all he knows is that his daughter is dead.

"She was the only one left. Her two brothers died several years ago and now she's also gone. Because of our condition, we couldn't even save her," said Nassel Bhai.

As per the nurses, two people die every day on an average due to Encephalitis in the Gorakhpur Medical College. A figure, which in itself shows, how deep the roots of the epidemic have reached.

Also, In western Uttar Pradesh, seven children have died and another hundred are in the hospital in Moradabad. Though the cause of death is not confirmed, the children were beleived to be suffering from viral fever.

It is believed that encephalitis is caused due to mosquitoes that breed in stagnant water. Hygiene is an important factor that plays a great role in the spiraling of the disease.

In the last 32 years, more than 7000 people have died of encephalitis just at the Gorakhpur Medical College Hospital. But, the centre is still unable to devise a vaccination programme for Japanese encephalitis which has already killed 200 this year. Even as cases continue to pour, the centre has no idea about how to deal with this outbreak.



Read more at: http://www.ndtv.com/article/india/ut...khpur-47684?cp

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Re: Mysterious viral fever in Moradabad claims seven lives

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/7-kids-die-of-mystery-fever-in-Moradabad/articleshow/6454411.cms

LUCKNOW: A mystery fever has claimed lives of seven children, aged between eight months and eight years, at Bhansiya village in Moradabad district of western UP in the past one week. Three deaths were reported on Friday.

Reports reaching Lucknow said 35 kids with symptoms of sore throat followed by fever had been admitted to Moradabad district hospital. Terming the disease 'acute viral fever', Moradabad CMO Dr RK Saxena said the exact cause could not be ascertained by lab tests. ''Those hospitalised are responding well to antibiotics,'' he said, adding, ''It seems like a viral infection.''

''The condition of children probably aggravated because of their poor immunity. Such kids are an easy prey for infections of all sorts. Since controlling infection in such patients is difficult, there is a high death rate,'' he said.

According to information gathered by State Infectious Disease Cell, the complication started with sore throat followed by fever. In some patients, fever resulted in swelling of tonsils while in some, it caused encephalitis (inflammation of brain due to virus) or meningitis (inflammation of the membranes that cover brain).

Since all the cases have been reported from a single village, the state health department has constituted a committee to probe the cause of deaths. Headed by Dr Shobhnath, a director-rank officer in UP health directorate, the team reached Moradabad on Saturday and is expected to submit its report by Monday.

Meanwhile, additional director, health of Moradabad division, has been instructed to collect swab samples of the patients. The samples would be sent to National Institute of Communicable Diseases (NICD) Delhi for investigation. ''We have requested the NICD authorities to examine the samples and tell us the reason for the disease,'' Dr Shobhnath told TOI.

The death of children — aged between eight months to eight years old — has enraged the villagers in Bhansiya. They blamed poor sanitation in the village as one of the reasons for the outbreak.

''Doctors are saying there is no cure for this disease in the city. They are referring the patients to New Delhi hospitals for advanced treatment. But, by the time the patient reaches Delhi, it's too late," Asif, an attendant at Moradabad district hospital, told media persons on Saturday

Read more: 7 kids die of mystery fever in Moradabad - India - The Times of India http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/i...#ixzz0xyJNC45r

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Re: Suspected Diptheria in Moradabad claims seven lives

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/lucknow/Diphtheria-killed-children-in-Moradabad/articleshow/6458506.cms

Diphtheria killed children in Moradabad
Shailvee Sharda, TNN, Aug 30, 2010, 12.54am IST

Tags:nicd|ndpt|immunisation|diphtheria LUCKNOW: Uttar Pradesh's ignorance towards routine immunisation seems to be showing results. Vaccine preventable diphtheria has spread in Moradabad district.

Holding diphtheria responsible for the death and illness of children in Bhansiya village of Moradabad, the committee constituted by UP government has recommended that all children in the village be given NDPT shots to avert the recurrence of the disease. The committee submitted its report on Sunday evening.

Seven children have died while 35 others are suffering from a mystery fever in Moradabad for the past 10 days. While three of them died on Friday last, the remaining succumbed to the disease a few days earlier. "Majority of the children are showing symptoms of diphtheria, so symptomatically we can say that they are suffering with the disease,'' Dr Shobhnath, head, inquiry committee, told TOI on Sunday.

He added that the inference would be confirmed once the reports from National Institute of Communicable Diseases (NICD), New Delhi come. Swab samples of all children were sent to NICD on Saturday evening after directions from the UP government. The report is expected in next 3-4 days.

Dr Shobhnath, along with paediatricians Dr GK Singh and Dr Brijesh Kumar, examined the sick children. "High grade fever and pain in throat was common to most of the children,'' said Dr Brajesh Kumar.

The committee found that there were some 2000 children in the village upto the age of five years, but only a few were partially immunised against diphtheria. "None of them had been given the booster dose while very few had received the first and second dose of DPT,'' said Dr Shobhnath.

He added that poor personal hygiene and sanitation in the village made conditions feasible for the bacteria causing diphtheria to spread. "Rains wreck havoc in the villages... poor sanitation makes conditions conducive for various diseases,'' he said. The committee has therefore recommended a mass cleanliness drive in the village with the help of village panchayat.

Meanwhile, chief medical officer (CMO) of Moradabad, Dr RK Saxena said some 20 patients, who were undergoing treatment in the district hospital, have been discharged. "The patients were responding well to antibiotics and are fine... besides, no new patient has been reported so far,'' CMO said.

As far as the death of children is concerned, experts blamed poor immunity in them. "Children with poor immunity are vulnerable to infections of all sorts,'' said Dr Sanjay Niranjan of Indian Paediatric Association. Also, it is a known fact that every second child in UP is malnourished.

On why all the cases were reported from a single village, the committee said the bacteria causing diphtheria is very infectious. Thus the spread of the disease is quite rapid. Meanwhile, in a face saving exercise, the health department rushed a team from the state epidemic control cell to the village to take stock of the situation.



Read more: Diphtheria killed children in Moradabad - Lucknow - City - The Times of India http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/c...#ixzz0y4C02Zhc

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Re: Suspected Diptheria in Moradabad claims seven lives

Diptheria is bacterial, not viral, so this is consistent.

http://www.indianexpress.com/news/Moradabad-kids-died-of-diphtheria--suspect-docs/674322/

Moradabad kids died of diphtheria, suspect docsLarger | Smaller Express News Service
Tags : health, diphtheria

Posted: Mon Aug 30 2010, 06:11 hrs


The team of doctors which went to inspect the death of seven children in a village of Moradabad on Friday, suspect they died of diphtheria.



Throat swabs of 37 children admitted in the District Hospital with similar symptoms have been sent to Delhi?s National Institute of Communicable Diseases for further investigation. The reports are expected within a week.



?The children had flu like symptoms with sore throats and difficulty breathing, so we suspect diphtheria,? said Dr Shobhnath, Director Medical Care, who headed the team of doctors that went to inspect the deaths on Saturday. ?Of the 37 children admitted, 28 have been discharged and the remaining 9 are responding well to treatment,? he said.



The team, constituting two other doctors, suspects incomplete immunisation to be the main reason for the outbreak.



?The disease was largely controlled due to immunisation programme, but the vaccination of most of the children hospitalised was incomplete,? said Shobhnath.

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Re: Diphtheria in Moradabad claims seven lives

http://www.indianexpress.com/news/Moradabad-deaths--Diphtheria-cases-not-uncommon--say-CSMMU-doctors/674833

Moradabad deaths: Diphtheria cases not uncommon, say CSMMU doctorsLarger | Smaller Express News Service
Tags : CSMMU, moradabad deaths, diphtheria cases
Posted: Tue Aug 31 2010, 06:50 hrs
Lucknow:

Health dept has not reported any diphtheria case in the state in the last one year



Even as Health department officials suspect diphtheria caused the death of seven children in Moradabad on Friday, sources at CSM Medical University said several similar cases have been reported in the hospital for the last one year. However, the Communicable Disease cell of the Health department has not reported any diphtheria case in the last one year.



“We have been reporting cases of diphtheria off and on in the last one year. However, such cases were not reported in previous years with such frequency,” said Dr Rashmi Kumar, Professor, Department of Paediatrics, CSMMU. “I had written to the authorities, including the vice-chancellor, about it last year. I have seen at least 30 cases in the last one year with diphtheria-like symptoms,” said Dr Kumar.


“We have been seeing patients of diphtheria from time to time,” said Dr Archana Kumar, another professor at CSMMU. “Most patients we come across are either not immunised at all or have not taken the complete dosage of vaccination,” said Dr Archana.



Vaccination for diphtheria, DPT, is part of the routine immunisation programme under the Department of Family Welfare. Three shots of vaccines are given in the second, third and fourth month of birth, while two booster shots are also given in the second and fifth year of the child, said Dr Kumar.



The 35 other children admitted in Moradabad district hospital were also either partially immunised or not immunised, said Dr Shobhnath, the head of the team of doctors which was sent to Moradabad by the Department of Health on Saturday to probe into kids’ deaths.

Last year, we had seen around 100 cases of diphtheria. Since June this year, on an average, one or two cases are admitted every day in the department. On Saturday, two kids were admitted with similar symptoms,” said Dr SN Singh, assistant professor at the same department of CSMMU.



“Though not all cases test positive for diphtheria when samples are sent for bacteria culture in labs, though clinically the symptoms can be of the disease,” said Dr Kumar, adding that the cases see a rise in August and September.



“If the patient has already taken antibiotics, it is not possible to culture the bacteria for diphtheria, a reason why most of the test reports generally come negative,” said Dr Archana.



“The common symptoms for diphtheria are fever with sore throat and difficulty in deglutition (swallowing) and in breathing. In acute cases, paralysis can also happen. Last year, we also saw some cases with diphtheritic membrane between the tonsils,” said Dr Singh. He further said, “Though the reports are not compiled, approximately 30 per cent mortality is seen in the cases of diphtheria.”


Meanwhile, according to the reports of the Health department, no case of diphtheria has been reported in the state in the last one year.

[Ronan Kelly]

Re: Mysterious viral fever in Moradabad claims seven lives

Influenza B was behind Moradabad mystery fever
Shailvee Sharda, TNN, Sep 5, 2010, 05.25am IST

LUCKNOW: The riddle of mystery fever in Bhansiya village of Moradabad district of UP has finally been solved. According to the report submitted by the National Institute of Communicable Diseases (NICD), the infectious fever, which claimed seven lives, was caused by Influenza B virus. The report has confirmed the presence of H1N1 virus in the area.

Confirming the news, chief surveillance officer, integrated disease surveillance programme, UP, Dr Purnima Srivastava said, "we have been communicated about the findings. In the wake of this, health authorities in the Moradabad division have been directed to increase surveillance in their area so that no patient is left untracked.''

To recap, death of seven children following a `mystery' fever in Bhansiya village sent alarm bells ringing late last month. Around 35 children with similar symptoms were hospitalised and the development sent entire health machinery into a tizzy. A committee was constituted by the state government to probe the reason. Later, swab samples of all the affected kids were sent to NICD for a confirmatory test.

The team headed by director, medical care, Dr Shobhnath, had said after preliminary investigation that the deaths were apparently caused by diphtheria. It had recommended that all children in the village be given NDPT shots to avert the recurrence of the disease. A couple of days later, experts from the epidemic control cell, UP, reached the spot to re-expedite the matter. Dr NN Tripathi and Dr AK Awasthi along with others claimed that it was probably a viral infection that caused the trouble.

Incidentally, as the bodies of the children had been disposed by the time the probe team got into action, its job to track down the reason became even more difficult. "Parents of the children who died had gone to private practitioners...we came to know about it a little late,'' Dr Rakesh Saxena, chief medical officer, Moradabad told TOI.

In its report, the team from epidemic control cell had pointed out that malnutrition killed two of the seven children while high grade viral fever `could' have taken toll on others. "Any disease...even simple fever gets fatal for children who are undernourished,'' pointed out Dr Sanjay Niranjan of Indian Paediatric Association.

The reason, explained Dr Awasthi, secondary bacterial infections like tonsillitis and pneumonia spread very fast when a malnourished child is under influence of a virus. "In fact, antibiotic treatment is given to any patient suffering from viral diseases to avert manifestation of secondary infections,'' he added.

Both the committees found that there were some 2,000 children in the village up to the age of five years, most of whom were malnourished. They added that poor personal hygiene and sanitation in the village added to their condition.

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/lucknow/Influenza-B-was-behind-Moradabad-mystery-fever-/articleshow/6493633.cms#ixzz0ycKaQLYv