Even as a patient suffering from respiratory distress continues to be under treatment at a hospital in Kutch district, a team of medical experts constituted by the state government is hard at work trying to identify the causes of the “mystery fever” that has claimed at least 14 lives between September 3 and 8. While some of the symptoms are similar to those seen in pneumonitis, the Rapid Response Team (RRT) is carrying out further investigation into the deaths to ascertain the exact cause. What is making their jobs tougher is that since the deaths were reported retrospectively, and from a mix of private and public hospitals, the administration has not been able to run tests either through biopsies or post mortem examinations in a majority of the cases.However, blood samples of two persons, who died after the RRT reached Kutch, have been collected and sent for testing to the National Institute of Virology (ICMR-NIV) in Pune. These included that of a 45-year-old man and a 16-year-old girl. The team of experts had already run an array of tests in the area encompassing seven villages located in Lakhpat and Abdasa talukas of Kutch. Dr Nilam Patel, Additional Director of Public Health, said, “We have ruled out infection by Leptospirosis, Typhoid and Covid. However, we have sent at least six samples for further tests to NIV, Pune. More samples will be sent tomorrow (Tuesday).” Zoonotic diseases, too, have been ruled out by the Animal Husbandry department. The deceased are all from the Jat Maldhari tribe, a community of herdsmen in the upper arid reaches of Gujarat. Notably, the Gujarat government has sought that the NIV test the samples for a wide array of pathogens including, but not limited to, Crimean-Congo Haemorrhagic Fever (CCHF), Scrub Typhus, Chandipura Vesiculovirus (CHPV), Japanese Encephalitis and even the Plague. The health department has ruled out any outbreak of communicable disease due to the lack of clusters. Besides, from the 27 contacts and symptomatic persons found in the health survey, the RRT found only two cases of Falciparum Malaria, two cases of Swine Flu, and a case of Dengue.Meanwhile, a senior doctor in Medicine is on his way to Kutch to lend expertise on the matter.Kutch Collector Amit Arora said, “While 10 patients died due to pneumonitis, two died of heart attacks, one by brain stroke and one had blood cancer. One patient is under treatment.”
