A six-member team from the All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS), Mangalagiri, visited the Eluru Government General Hospital (GGH) on Monday and collected samples from patients suffering from an undiagnosed disease for the last three days.
The team comprised Dr. Rakesh Kakkar, Medical Superintendent and Community Medicine Specialist; Dr. Vamsidhar. C, Critical Care Specialist; Dr. Rajasekhar, Critical Care Specialist; Dr. Mangayakarasi, head, Department of Microbiology; Dr. Sathyanarayin, Epidemiologist; and Dr. Vamsi Krishna Reddy, DMS & Hospital Administrator (coordination), said BJP Rajya Sabha Member G.V.L. Narasimha Rao.
Experts to investigate
West Godavari district Joint Collector Himanshu Shukla said teams from AIIMS, New Delhi, the National Institution of Nutrition (NIN), Hyderabad, the Indian Institute of Chemical Technology (IICT), Mumbai, the National Institute of Virology (NIV), Pune, and experts from the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) and the World Health Organisation (WHO) would be visiting Eluru to investigate the reasons for the outbreak of the disease.
174 under treatment
Mr. Shukla said a total of 455 patients were admitted to the hospital with the mystery illness.
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Of them, 263 were discharged, 17 cases were referred to other hospitals and one death was reported. As many as 174 patients were undergoing treatment in hospitals, he said.
Sixty-five of the patients were aged between 1 and 12 years, 246 were in the 12-35 age group and 144 were aged over 35. Medical camps were continuing in the affected colonies, the Joint Collector said.
