How a family in Kutch’s village lost three men to ‘mystery fever’

There was more misery in store for Aamiben, though.

Soon after the death of her two sons, Aamiben’s nephew Mushtaq (20) – the son of her sister Noorbanubai Lukma Jat – also died of the same symptoms as his cousins.

In fact, all three young men fell sick on August 30 after getting drenched in the rains that battered the region between August 26 and 30.

However, as their symptoms got worse, none of them could seek treatment on time as that would mean travelling to the nearest health centre, the Dayapar Community Health Centre (CHC), located 30 km away.

“They reached the hospital only on September 1 by when it was too late,” said Ramdhan Jat, Sarpanch of Mindhiyari Juth (group) Gram Panchayat, which administers five villages including Bekhada.

According to government documents, all three young men died on September 3 at different hospitals.

Further tragedy lay in wait for this family. “When Suleiman Jat, the brother of Aamiben and Noorbanubai, was informed that three of his nephews had died, he suffered a brain stroke and lost his life,” said Aarab Jat, a relative who had arranged for the hospitalisation and final rites of all four family members. Suleiman has left behind his widow Mariam to raise four children on her own.

All the deceased are from the predominant Jat Maldhari community, a shepherding tribe residing in villages across Kutch.

Meanwhile, teams of experts continue to grapple with the causes of the “mystery fever” with samples sent to the National Institute of Virology (ICMR-NIV) ruling out Crimean-Congo Haemorrhagic Fever (CCHF), Hantavirus, Nipah virus, Typhoid, Leptospirosis, Covid-19 and Swine Flu. The Animal Husbandry department has ruled out zoonotic diseases.

Investigations continue for Scrub Typhus, Chandipura Vesiculovirus (CHPV), Japanese Encephalitis and the Plague.

Medical experts as well as district health officials said the families had declined consent to conduct autopsies but they managed to collect needle biopsies of organs from some of the deceased and sent the samples for testing.

Sarpanch Ramdhan Jat said compensation has been sought for the family from the chief minister’s relief fund.