38 hospitalised in Ccpur village due to unknown disease

Lamka, Jan 7:

An unknown disease has plagued the residents of Misao Lhahvom since Sunday night. The village is located around 8 kms from Churachandpur police station in the south near the Khuga dam canal.
The epidemic has affected the villagers since Sunday night resulting in the hospitalisation of 16 persons within 24 minutes. However, as more and more people are being affected by the seemingly contagious disease, the number of patients till now has risen to a whopping 34 till 8.30 pm yesterday and 38 by today, as 4 more have been admitted to the district hospital.
According, to one of the villagers attending on the patients, on Sunday night one Nemneilam, 18, was the first one to be attacked by the disease. She had a high fever and soon after lost consciousness. Panicking at this development many people from the village arrived at her home to share the anxiety of the family members.
But the visitors were also not spared and suffered the same fate on returning home, he said adding that the number of people suffering was on the rise.
Within 3 to 4 hours during the night the number of patients crossed 10, he said.
The villager Lunthang told the IFP that there was one auto rickshaw in the village and using this the villagers brought many patients to the district hospital.
During all this while, some local NGOs like the ZYA and the KKL assisted them in bringing the patients to the hospital.
Yesterday , a medical team headed by the CMO Dr. Shingkhojam Haujel and Paulginthang from the malaria department went to the village and made an assessment of the situation. The team took the blood samples of 130 people and later the veterinary department officials also visited the village.
The DC Churachandpur, Sumant Singh, meanwhile, paid a visit personally to the patients languishing at the hospital and also sent a message to the additional secretary health urging him to dispatch a medical team urgently to the affected area.
The team which reportedly arrived at the village in compliance with the official call reached here around 4 pm and went straight to the village and thereafter returned to Imphal after collecting some blood samples. The team was led by Dr. K Gopal and it assuaged apprehensions among the local people that the disease could be bird flue, while stating that it was in fact a bacterial disease.
Meanwhile, Dr. T Hatzaw, the medical superintendent, also urged the additional director of the health department to conduct an investigation to find the cause of the disease.
A local body ZEPADA, meanwhile, has urged the officer in-charge of NICD, Plague Surveillance Unit, New Delhi to take immediate steps in the matter.
Today, Th Bubhan Chandra Singh, the additional director of public health and state nodal officer, ISDP visited Churachandpur and had a meeting with the DC and some other health officials in the district.
All the patients’ blood samples were collected today once again and are now under surveillance. However, in spite of all these efforts there is still no confirmation on what the disease was and how it had been caused.
Some blood samples that were tested yesterday were negative and there are no cases of malaria, according to the medical superintendant of the district hospital.