Health Minister on kutch ‘Mystery fever’: ‘Most deaths seem only due to pneumonia, late treatment’

Patel, who visited the affected areas in Kutch, said that till Wednesday, total 17 deaths have been registered in Lakhpat and Abdasa tehsils of Kutch district.

“Out of those 17 deaths, 4-5 deaths have been identified as those resulting from heart attack and other reasons like brain stroke. So, around 12 deaths (have happened) due to this fever…We could not take samples of earlier deaths. But we collected 64 samples that included those of the last four deceased, those who came in contact with them and those who were running fever, and sent them to Pune and Rajkot for tests,” Patel said.

“From (the samples sent to) Rajkot, we have got one case of Falciparum, two of H1N2 and that of H3N2 as well; in a way, it can be called Pneumonia only. The other samples which were sent for testing of viruses like Nipah, CCHF etc. have all turned negative…,” he added.

Patel further said that they have come to a conclusion that all these death cases seem to have happened due to pneumonia where the patients got late treatment and sustained damage to their respiratory system, heart or muscles.

The health minister also said, “On the basis of the tests conducted, we do not think that these (deaths) could have happened for any other reason. After the test results and discussions with doctors, it is believed that this entire situation has occurred owing to pneumonia…H3N2 is virulent, and this (the deaths) can happen due to late treatment.”

Patel said that the prevalence of these deaths has been found in seven villages of two tehsils – Lakhpat and Abdasa – of Kutch district. “(In other villages) cases of fever are there, but apparently, they seem to be cases of common fever. Places where we visited CHC (Community Health Centre) and inquired, many people got treatment for fever and were found to be cured after treatment,” he added.