Biological Hazard in India

At least eight children died and 17 others were hospitalized after suffering from an unidentified illness at Malda Medical College and Hospital in West Bengal. "The children, aged between 1-6 years, were admitted here with high fever, vomiting and convulsion on Thursday night. The children died in the past couple of days," superintendent-cum-vice principal of the medical college MA Rashid said. All the affected children hail from Kaliachak-I, Kaliachak-II and Kaliachak-III blocks of Malda district, officials said. Rashid said, "The symptoms started with fever and vomiting. It soon intensified and culminated in convulsions, leading to death of the children." A team of specialists from School of Tropical Medicine in Kolkata will visit the area on Saturday. Three more children were admitted in Malda with similar symptoms on Saturday, officials said.

Stories like this are scary.

I constantly read these articles to see if a pandemic is upon us. I hope they figure it out and the others affected are ok.

I am always saddened when children are affected.

a reply to: liejunkie01

If a pandemic ever starts you can bet it will come out of an overcrowded country like india or china. Its perfect to hide the point of origin seeing how china but more so india have poor hygiene and lack of critical systems to deal with it.

a reply to: ThinkYouSpeak

Not to be a dick but this sounds like a world war Z prequel idk aboit u but im keeping an ear on this to see if something unfathomable happens hopefully not and they just got a wiff of a nerve agent

In cities and countries where personal hygiene is poorly demonstrated, you can guarantee that illness will rise; perfect place to birth such viruses and bacterial agents wouldn't you say so? But when you get those cases that are isolated and modern medicine is practiced, thats when heads should be turning. These areas could just be testing sites without the citizens knowing, but what part of the world isn't...

I think things like this are done discretely, through other possible hosts like monkeys or mosquitoes. Like this recent incident with Mosquitos carrying Chikungunya - a virus transmitted to people by mosquitoes which has hit 17 countries in the Caribbean with cases in Italy and France. ( source taken here - www.cbsnews.com... ) Kind of makes me paranoid the more time passes.

Can you provide a link for your news story. This sounds like it may be a hydrogen sulfide gas poisoning. It seems all the sickened were sickened quickly and all were from the same neighborhood. This wouldn't be the result of a virus, but a gas poisoning. Hydrogen sulfide at a certain level will lead to convulsions, especially in the children, and then death. Please provide link so I can check it out, thanks.

a reply to: ThinkYouSpeak

Sounds like some form of meningitis.

Very quick progression with neuroligical symptoms , high fatallity and the age fits

originally posted by: Rezlooper
Can you provide a link for your news story. This sounds like it may be a hydrogen sulfide gas poisoning. It seems all the sickened were sickened quickly and all were from the same neighborhood. This wouldn't be the result of a virus, but a gas poisoning. Hydrogen sulfide at a certain level will lead to convulsions, especially in the children, and then death. Please provide link so I can check it out, thanks.

Im remember back in the UK in the mid - late 90's menningitis appearedlike this in a number of local schools.


We have vaccines now, but do the kids in india?

Like many have mentioned above, due to the lack of hygiene in many parts of India (culturally it isn't viewed to the point westerners view it today) and the tight knit population that is practically living on top of one another - these conditions are breeding grounds for diseases and illness to run rampant. I will keep an eye out on this.

~Sovereign

a reply to: SovereignEve

Do you know of any disease that strikes in one evening sending over two dozen people to the hospital with a number of them dying within a day of the event...and that's it...no more reports of hospitalizations in the days to follow. I don't. Please inform. I'm not sure if that is the case in this news story because there is no link for us to read on our own. But, that's what I understand from what the OP posted. All the sick were admitted to the hospital "on Thursday," and the doctor said the deaths occurred within two days.

a reply to: Rezlooper

I shouldn't make habit of skimming over a post before making a formal reply. My apologies. Although, the OP doesn't seem to have a viable link to source the information claimed so I can't make any true speculations on the situation - what I am simply implying with my previous post is that the way the state of living in the country presently is, it creates a breeding ground for diseases - You're right on the fact that there is presently no known disease that is known to kill people within a couple days - it remains unknown WHAT it is that caused this to happen.

Cheers,

~Sovereign

It appears to be from an article a number of days ago Mystery Disease Kills 9 Children in Malda hospital, dated June 8, 2014.
I've not read it, yet...but wanted to get a 'source' for you.

ETA: Not much more information than found in he OP...
Rezlooper - the fact that it's just affecting children between the ages of 1 to 6 (in said article) throws a twist on the hydrogen-sulfide possibility.
Good to see you 'round and participating!

yes please remember,,



"Sixty-four per cent of Indians defecate in open spaces, ..".

yeah,,

a reply to: BobAthome
I always remember that...
It is a part of my mantra...

I very much think its some form of meningitis.

But with out a list of more symptoms I cant be sure.

But:
1) Age group
2) Vomiting
3) High fever
4) Seizures
5) Very quick progression of symptoms.

Points to Bacterial or Viral meningitis.

Im only a humble microbiologist so any real docs in the house ?

Bit more reading and there seems to be a history of recent deaths like this tied to the Litchi fruits. There a virus thats appeared in the fruit causing encephalitis (similar to meningitis)

source

a reply to: crazyewok

I seen that as I did some digging. The posts at the RZOE site also said that the doctors were asked not to talk to the media anymore after they first mentioned their thoughts. It said also that in 2012 the litchi fruit caused a viral outbreak. I don't know if children passed away that quickly back then, but I just don't see how two dozen children can become sick in one evening (they were all admitted on a Thursday night) and then 8 of them pass away over the course of the next two days. Maybe, but if that's true...this is one of the most frightening viruses ever! Worse than Ebola.

a reply to: Rezlooper

Well meningitis can kill in a day. And that use to circle around UK schools back in the 90's.

Encephalitis will do the same. As soon as there is CNS involvement your times very limited.

The virus and Bactria that cause such things though are normally very self limiting.

It's unfortunate the people in India have to live in the squaller that they do. 70% off the "fresh" water they have there has e-coli and other viruses in it. The sanitation is a farce and the lower classes have to unblock the sewers, that are often chest deep, with no protective gear at all. They find dead rats, dead dogs and broken bottles in them all the time. This practice was made illegal but since the people who do that kind of work are illiterate and uneducated they have no idea it's illegal. Plus they have no other choice but to do it to feed their families. I read a report about it here: www.latimes.com...

Then there's the fact that many developed countries have their gabbage shipped to India because it's cheap. Combine this with a population of 1 billion and it's a recipe for disaster. It seems as though we've forgotten about the bubonic plague and don't seem to realize that India is the perfect breeding ground for such a disease. If it did surface there in just a few areas the results could be devastating. To be honest, I'm amazed there hasn't been a huge outbreak of some kind in the country, which could easily become a global issue. I feel bad for people stuck in India, for most of them it's not a choice and they can't do anything about it.

They have a very high rate of Hepatitis and HIV too, something that seems unlikely to change anytime soon unless so-called developed countries do something, before it's too late.