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Source: https://theprint.in/the-fineprint/f...ips-haryana-village-water-under-lens/2857863/
Fever to death in 48 hrs: Govt gropes in dark as mystery disease grips Haryana village, water under lens
Villagers say 20 have died in 1 month in Chhainsa, govt doctors say death toll is 7. As cause of deaths yet to be identified, doctors testing villagers for Hepatitis B, C & HIV & also testing water.
Sneha Richhariya
19 February, 2026 09:00 am IST
Chhainsa (Palwal, Haryana): Around 10 am, as the February sunlight begins to hit hard, a group of men in Chhainsa, a village in the Palwal district of Haryana, sit in a tight circle around a hookah, discussing a mystery that has gripped the village—a string of sudden deaths that no one here can explain.
In the middle is Haqimuddin, whose 24-year-old son Dilshad walked to the hospital with fever and died of liver failure just two days later on 11 February.
Haqimuddin had first taken Dilshad to a local doctor. When the fever did not subside, the family rushed him to a private hospital in nearby Hathin town, where doctors advised further tests. The reports suggested jaundice.
From Hathin, they took him to a government hospital in neighbouring Nuh district. “My son walked to the hospital on his own,” Haqimuddin recalls. Within 48 hours, Dilshad was declared dead.
“He was not that serious. Kaise 48 ghante mein sab khatam ho gaya? (How can it all end in just 48 hours?)” he asked.
Dilshad’s is not an isolated tragedy.
In this village of over 10,000 people, deaths have come in a cluster over the past month—sudden, and unexplained. Children as young as 13 and 18 have died of acute liver failure within just 24 to 48 hours of getting a fever. Authorities confirm seven deaths in the village, four of them children below 15 years of age. Villagers, however, claim as many as 20-22 deaths in the past 20 days.
All the families ThePrint spoke to describe a similar pattern: Fever and stomach ache, a quick referral, rapid deterioration and death...
Fever to death in 48 hrs: Govt gropes in dark as mystery disease grips Haryana village, water under lens
Villagers say 20 have died in 1 month in Chhainsa, govt doctors say death toll is 7. As cause of deaths yet to be identified, doctors testing villagers for Hepatitis B, C & HIV & also testing water.
Sneha Richhariya
19 February, 2026 09:00 am IST
Chhainsa (Palwal, Haryana): Around 10 am, as the February sunlight begins to hit hard, a group of men in Chhainsa, a village in the Palwal district of Haryana, sit in a tight circle around a hookah, discussing a mystery that has gripped the village—a string of sudden deaths that no one here can explain.
In the middle is Haqimuddin, whose 24-year-old son Dilshad walked to the hospital with fever and died of liver failure just two days later on 11 February.
Haqimuddin had first taken Dilshad to a local doctor. When the fever did not subside, the family rushed him to a private hospital in nearby Hathin town, where doctors advised further tests. The reports suggested jaundice.
From Hathin, they took him to a government hospital in neighbouring Nuh district. “My son walked to the hospital on his own,” Haqimuddin recalls. Within 48 hours, Dilshad was declared dead.
“He was not that serious. Kaise 48 ghante mein sab khatam ho gaya? (How can it all end in just 48 hours?)” he asked.
Dilshad’s is not an isolated tragedy.
In this village of over 10,000 people, deaths have come in a cluster over the past month—sudden, and unexplained. Children as young as 13 and 18 have died of acute liver failure within just 24 to 48 hours of getting a fever. Authorities confirm seven deaths in the village, four of them children below 15 years of age. Villagers, however, claim as many as 20-22 deaths in the past 20 days.
All the families ThePrint spoke to describe a similar pattern: Fever and stomach ache, a quick referral, rapid deterioration and death...