Karnataka: 2 children die, haemorrhagic symptoms, 3 others recovering

[Ronan Kelly]

Kids died of slow blood clotting: Docs
TNN, Jan 3, 2011, 10.25pm IST

MYSORE: Mystery deepened over the death of two children at Ragimuddenahalli of Mandya district on Monday with doctors not confirming the cause of deaths. The children died after vomiting blood on Sunday.

Meanwhile, the three children admitted to Cheluvamba Hospital here on Sunday with similar symptoms are said to be out of danger.

Ruling out viral infection or encephalitis as suspected earlier, Dr Krishnamurthy, hospital superintendent, attributed the deaths to delay in blood clotting. "Their blood clotting time was 90-120 seconds against the normal 15-20 seconds," he said. He said blood clotting is normally delayed in cases of people consuming rat poison or in haemorrhages.


...

Read more: Kids died of slow blood clotting: Docs - The Times of India http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/...ng-Docs/articleshow/7212545.cms#ixzz1A6f60SKK

Sent to PROMED

 

[alert]

Re: Karnataka: 2 children die, haemorrhagic symptoms, 3 others recovering

edit

http://www.promedmail.org/pls/apex/..._BACK_PAGE,F2400_P1001_PUB_MAIL_ID:1000,86517

Archive Number 20110106.0060
Published Date 06-JAN-2011
Subject PRO/AH/EDR> Undiagnosed hemorrhagic deaths - India: (MA)

UNDIAGNOSED HEMORRHAGIC DEATHS - INDIA: (MANDYA)
************************************************
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: 3 Jan 2011
Source: The Times of India [edited]
<http: timesofindia.indiatimes.com="" city="" mysore="" kids-died-of-slow-blood-clotting-docs="" articleshow="" 7212545.cms#ixzz1a6gukz3u="">


Children died of slow blood clotting: Docs
------------------------------------------
Mystery deepened over the death of 2 children at Ragimuddenahalli of
Mandya district on Monday [3 Jan 2011] with doctors not confirming
the cause of deaths. The children died after vomiting blood on
Sunday. Meanwhile, the 3 children admitted to Cheluvamba Hospital
here on Sunday [2 Jan 2011] with similar symptoms are said to be out of danger.

Ruling out viral infection or encephalitis as suspected earlier, Dr
Krishnamurthy, hospital superintendent, attributed the deaths to
delay in blood clotting. "Their blood clotting time was 90-120
seconds against the normal 15-20 seconds," he said. He said blood
clotting is normally delayed in cases of people consuming rat poison
or in haemorrhages.

"The 3 children who are being treated now are below 3 years. They
could have eaten bondas mixed with rat poison. But this is a distant
possibility as the 5 children might not have chanced upon the same
bondas," Krishnamurthy felt. According to the parents, they all had
dinner at their respective homes.

"This makes the things more complicated for us to arrive at a
conclusion and identify the reason," he said. He has directed the
doctors to send blood samples to the forensic laboratory in Bangalore
where experts can trace the chemical that slows down blood clotting.
"Only after receiving the report from Bangalore we can arrive at a
conclusion," he added.

Meanwhile, health officials from Mandya Dr Arvindappa said he visited
Cheluvamba Hospital and felt that children might have died of acute gastritis.

--
Communicated by:
Ronan Kelly
<ronankelly@comcast.net>

[Bondas are either a spicy or sweet treat generally made with potato
or other vegetable filling. If the flour used were contaminated it
would difficult to understand why the phenomenon is not occurring in
other locations.

A number rodenticides or anticoagulants can affect the clotting time
and could be accidentally incorporated into food, but all at the same
time in the same location is very odd.

There is likely something more to this story: For example, we are not
told if any of these children have any other health conditions that
may have made them susceptible to something that normally healthy
children would not be susceptible to. We look forward to results from
the laboratory. - Mod.TG]

[The interactive HealthMap/ProMED map for Mandya in India is
available at: <http: healthmap.org="" r="" 0lxb=""> - CopyEd.EJP]
....................tg/ejp/mpp</http:></ronankelly@comcast.net></http:></http:></http:>