An investigation of a mysterious annual epidemic in northern India in which thousands of young children suffer convulsions, lapse into comas and die has concluded that a toxin found in litchi fruit might be the cause.
Dr. Padmini Srikantiah, one of the authors of a description of the investigation in this week's Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report, a publication of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in the United States, said that, "We believe it's likely to be some sort of toxin" that causes a sharp drop in blood sugar levels that then leads to seizures."
Conjunctivitis
Conjunctivitis or Pink Eye causes redness and soreness of the conjunctiva and is responsible for 1% of all emergency visits to a hospital.
Advertisement
The special investigators are testing a variety of possible poisons as catalysts for the malady, including pesticides and heavy metals. But the region is India's litchi center, and the epidemic occurs every year just as the fruit ripen. So a toxin found in litchi seeds has become a focus of further testing, Dr. Srikantiah, a senior epidemiologist with the American agency, said on Thursday.
The affected children begin arriving every year in mid-May, brought to overburdened hospitals in one of India's most impoverished areas by panic-stricken mothers who generally report that their young children, healthy just hours before, awoke with a scream in the middle of the night, suffered convulsions and then became unconscious.
![AIDS/HIV - Epidemiology]( "AIDS/HIV - Epidemiology")
AIDS or HIV is an epidemic disease, a potentially deadly infection that can be prevented with precautions. AIDS/HIV symptoms manifest long after the actual infection occurs.
Although public health statistics are often unreliable in India, the mysterious illness is believed to afflict tens of thousands of people a year and kill thousands. The first reports of the disease date to 1995, when nearly 1,000 children were sickened and 300 died in the three hospitals in Muzaffarpur in Bihar State. Smaller epidemics have followed almost every year since, and similar outbreaks have been reported in litchi-growing regions of Bangladesh and Vietnam.
Doctors work to calm the convulsions and keep the stricken children hydrated, but they then have to watch helplessly along with the anguished parents as a third of their young patients die, often within hours. Then, as suddenly as it started, the outbreak stops with the onset of the monsoon rains in July.
Source: Medindia
AIDS/HIV - Epidemiology
AIDS or HIV is an epidemic disease, a potentially deadly infection that can be prevented with precautions. AIDS/HIV symptoms manifest long after the actual infection occurs.
Advertisement
Although public health statistics are often unreliable in India, the mysterious illness is believed to afflict tens of thousands of people a year and kill thousands. The first reports of the disease date to 1995, when nearly 1,000 children were sickened and 300 died in the three hospitals in Muzaffarpur in Bihar State. Smaller epidemics have followed almost every year since, and similar outbreaks have been reported in litchi-growing regions of Bangladesh and Vietnam.
Doctors work to calm the convulsions and keep the stricken children hydrated, but they then have to watch helplessly along with the anguished parents as a third of their young patients die, often within hours. Then, as suddenly as it started, the outbreak stops with the onset of the monsoon rains in July.
Source: Medindia
Malnutrition to Obesity - The Big Leap
Obesity is the root cause of problems like diabetes, heart disease, stroke, arthritis and gall bladder disease. A serious look at our strategies is needed to tackle this fast growing epidemic.
Advertisement
Advertisement
|
Advertisement
Recommended Reading
Latest Indian Health News
H3N2 Outbreak in India: Influenza and respiratory illnesses are spreading faster than ever before in India. Finding ways for better lung health can save lives from deadly viruses.
Is stroke common in India? Yes, a stroke kills one Indian every 4 minutes. Therefore, telemedicine in stroke treatment could save lives.
Across Karnataka, more than 50 cases of H3N2 have been reported. Karnataka government released detailed guidelines in this regard.
Silver Storm Water Theme Park in Athirappilly (Kerala) is temporarily closed as many students who bathed were affected with symptoms of the Zoonotic disease leptospirosis.
In Delhi in the last three months, a new sub-type of the influenza virus H3N2 has been in wide circulation. Experts warn against the use of antibiotics.