BHUBANESWAR,Dec 08:
Indian authorities are investigating if organochlorines used as pesticides or in mosquito control caused the death of one person and hospitalisation of more than 400 in the southern state of Andhra Pradesh in the past few days, a health official said on Tuesday.
The unknown illness has infected more than 300 children, with most of them suffering from dizziness, fainting spells, headache and vomiting. They have tested negative for COVID-19.
The All-India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) said on Tuesday that water contaminated by a virus or pesticide might have triggered the “mystery” disease in Eluru town. A leading private lab in Vijayawada found high levels of pesticides, including DDT, in the drinking water.
A separate report by AIIMS Mangalagiri showed high levels of lead and nickel in the blood samples collected from patients.
A team comprising experts from AIIMS Delhi, National Institute of Virology, Pune, Indian Institute of Chemical Technology (IICT), Centre for Cellular and Molecular Biology, and National Institute of Nutrition, Hyderabad, is zeroing in on the causative agent — a pesticide or virus, or a combination of both — that led to the hospitalisation of about 500 people in the last three days. The mysterious sicknesses began on December 6 when a number of people were hospitalised with symptoms that resembled those of epilepsy.
Federal lawmaker GVL Narasimha Rao, who is from the state, said on Twitter that he had spoken with government medical experts and that the “most likely cause is poisonous organochlorine substances”.
“It is one of the possibilities,” said Geeta Prasadini, a public health director in Andhra Pradesh state, adding they were awaiting test reports to ascertain the cause.
She said no new serious cases have come to light in the past 24 hours. A 45-year-old man died over the weekend.
Organochlorines here are banned or restricted in many countries after research linked them to cancer and other potential health risks. However, some of the pollutants remain in the environment for years and build up in animal and human body fat.
It was not immediately clear how extensively the chemicals are used in India, though it is found in DDT applied for mosquito control.
Exposure to organochlorine pesticides over a short period may produce convulsions, headache, dizziness, nausea, vomiting, tremors, confusion, muscle weakness, slurred speech, salivation and sweating, U.S. health authorities say here.