An outbreak of disease occurred in India, which puzzles the authorities.
A viral infection is not behind it.
The following assumption is now being made.
Corona-stricken India is now struggling with new bad news: a mysterious disease outbreak occurred in the southeast of the country.
More than 300 patients with seizures, loss of consciousness and nausea were treated in one clinic.
The people come from the city of Eluru in the state of Andhra Pradesh.
Tests for Covid-19 * came back negative and blood tests showed that no other virus caused the disease either.
The responsible authorities are now suspecting how the mass hospitalization could come about.
In the Indian state of Andhra Pradesh, more than 800,000 people currently suffer from Covid-19, as reported by the US television station CNN, among others.
The clinics are overloaded in many places.
A regionally limited outbreak of disease at the weekend made the already tense situation in the clinics worse:
More than 300 people had to be treated as inpatients for an illness with a previously unknown trigger
.
Corona tests were negative and virus infections such as dengue or chikungunya could also be ruled out by blood tests, as CNN quotes the Andhra Pradesh health authority.
The patients reported symptoms such as nausea, seizures, anxiety and loss of consciousness
.
A 45-year-old man died on Sunday evening after the illness, as the editorial network Germany (RND) quoted the Press Trust of India news agency.
According to CNN, the cause would have been cardiac arrest, which was not associated with the disease.
Dolla Joshi Roy, the district surveillance officer in charge of the West Godavari district in Eluru, said around 180 patients have now been discharged, while the rest are "stable".
Mysterious disease broke out in India: authorities suspect the obvious
Authorities are now testing water samples in Eluru for contamination, according to CNN, after it was found that all patients get their water from a common source.
Samples from 57,863 households are currently being examined in a forensic laboratory.
"The cause is still unknown,
but we are
still
doing all kinds of tests, including testing food and milk,
" said Roy about the current state of the investigation.
Water pollution is always a reason why people become seriously ill - especially in countries like India, where nature conservation is not a priority.
A major problem are above all old industrial plants that do not filter their wastewater in special wastewater treatment plants, as is customary in industrial nations, but instead simply channel it into the nearest river in many places.
And the Ganges has it all:
the “Holy River” is the most important source of drinking water for billions of people, although it serves as a mass grave.
Tens of thousands of Hindus are buried in the Ganges every year.
Such water burials also get bacteria into the water that develop during the decomposition process.
According to the TV format “Welt der Wunder”, this also includes the bacterium Clostridium botulinum - which produces a poison that is used by the military as a biological weapon because it is deadly.
(jg)
*
Merkur.de is part of the nationwide Ippen-Digital editorial network.
More sources: www.rnd.de
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