M A I N   N E W S

23 kids die of mystery fever in Haryana
Kulwinder Sandhu
Tribune News Service

Karnal, October 23
With three more children having died of acute viral infections in Karnal district during the past 24 hours, the death toll in Haryana has gone up to 23.

In the neighbouring district of Saharanpur in Uttar Pradesh, four children died of similar symptoms in the district hospital on Friday taking the toll to 43 in the district.

As per the reports available, six-year-old twin sisters Shalu and Kanjal daughters of Jitendra, a labourer, working at a brick-kiln at Kalram village in Gharaunda block of the district, died under mysterious circumstances yesterday.

The twins complained of high fever on the night of October 20. They were taken to a private clinic for treatment, but their condition worsened during the next couple of days. Yesterday, Shalu died on the way to government hospital while Kanjal died just after reaching the hospital.

Another child, four-year-old Parisha, daughter of Rohtash, resident of Prithvi Vihar, Karnal, died of acute viral infection yesterday. She was suffering from high fever for the past few days. She was being treated at a local private clinic, but was later shifted to the trauma centre of the local Civil Hospital.

According to the Chief Medical Officer of Saharanpur, Mr M.K. Gupta, four children died in the district hospital on Friday during treatment. They were identified as Khatija (4), daughter of Shahid, resident of Rasulpur village, Abuzar (3), son of Abul Jabur, resident of Malaheri village Minakshi (7), resident of Tikraul village and Manak (4), resident of Muzmil village. All of them were suffering from acute viral infection followed by high fever.

As per the reports available, four children have died in Kurukshetra, two in Kaithal, four in Yamunanagar, nine in Muzaffarnagar and 39 in Saharanpur district.

In Taprana village, adjoining, the Yamuna in Muzaffarnagar district, five-year-old Ruksana, daughter of Ehsan Ali, who was suffering from viral infection for the past nine days died on Thursday evening taking the toll in the district to nine. Gurdas, a resident of village Jharkheri (Kairana) lost his both children Nitin and Dolli, early this week. In the same village Hanu, daughter of Yogendra, also died of similar symptoms. The others who have died in the district during the past one week are Anjum (6), daughter of Qayum, Sahiba (8), daughter of Jaheed, Priyanka (4), daughter of Rak Kumar, and Sonam (9), daughter of Matloob, all residents of Jharvan village in Gangoh subdivision.

In the Saharanpur Civil Hospital four children died of viral infections on Thursday. They were identified as Rakhi (3), daughter of Jai Kumar, resident of Khajurwala village falling under Nagal police station, Sheena (4), daughter of Mohammad Aslam, resident of Nanauta village, Alia (2), daughter of Tassavar, resident of Gangoh, and Nitin (4), son of Pritam, resident of Gandevra village, of the Fatehpur area.

Four children died of viral infection in the Radaur area of Yamunanagar district this week. Kajal (7), resident of Bapauli village, Gulsher (3), resident of Bubka village, Madhu (4), resident of Kanjnu village and Anju (5), resident of Kheri village were victims of the mysterious fever.

Nine-year old Navdeep, son of Kewal Krishan, resident of Nilokheri (Karnal), died in the All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) in Delhi on October 19.

In Karnal district alone, more than 50,000 persons had suffered from viral fever during the past six weeks. The district health authorities collected their blood samples and the patients were given treatment accordingly. At least 700 patients were confirmed suffering from malaria, during the same period. However, the mystery of fever for the rest of patients still continues.

The health authorities in Karnal were clueless about the cause and identity of the killer virus even as the experts’ panel comprising a number of teams from the National Institute of Communicable Diseases (NICD), the Post-Graduate Institute of Medical Education and Research, Chandigarh, and other agencies were carrying out studies, but they were yet to identify the cause of disease.