Southern States - Andhra Pradesh   

Two more succumb to mystery fever

By Our Staff Reporter

KARIMNAGAR JULY 4. Two more children succumbed to the mystery viral fever and over 387 children were hospitalised in various Government hospitals in the district and several other children were also undergoing treatment in private hospitals on Friday.

The fresh victims were Sandhya (4) of Velgatoor and Prem Kumar (3) of Kondapur in Velgatoor mandal. While Anjali (6) of Husnabad was kept under ventilator at Prathima Institute of Medical Sciences six other children were being treated in emergency wards.

A total of 224 children were admitted in the Government Headquarters Hospital here where the authorities have opened five new wards and are also using paying rooms. Additional beds and mattresses were procured from other hospitals. About 49 children were hospitalised in the Jagtial Government Hospital, followed by 27 in Peddapalli, nine in Godavarikhani, six in Manthani and five in Metpally hospital.

Addressing a press conference here on Friday, the Collector, Sumita Dawra, said six post-graduate doctors had arrived from Hyderabad and another six paediatricians from Hyderabad and three assistant professors from others hospitals would be arriving in Karimnagar on Saturday and Sunday respectively. An expert in Indian medicine, Sohan Singh, would also arrive in Karimnagar to study the problem.

All necessary measures were being taken on a war-footing to provide proper medicare to children, she said and added that the administration had deputed 10 additional nurses in Karimnagar hospital and was also using the services of the nursing school.

All hospitals were stocked with all anti-biotics and anti-viral drugs and were distributing them free of cost.

Special anti-mosquito operations and also conducting a door-to-door survey to detect mystery viral fever cases. In order to monitor the situation round the clock at Karimnagar hospital, three MROs were deputed to take care of emergencies and other issues in the hospital.

Besides, the administration had also opened crisis control rooms at all Government hospitals to monitor the situation round the clock.

In the meantime, doctors of the National institute of Virology (NIV) who conducted field visits in neighbouring Warangal district were also visiting some of the villages in Karimnagar on Friday evening.

The NIV doctors would visit the Government Headquarters Hospital also in the night. The Collector said the doctors of both the NIV and the National Institute of Communicable Diseases would meet on Saturday in Hyderabad to come to a conclusion about the mystery viral fever.

She said doctors treating children suffering from the mystery fever had observed changes in symptoms. Initially, the children suffered from high fever, convulsions, vomiting, etc, but on Friday the doctors noticed that the children were suffering from only vomiting and loose motions. ``The virus may be the same, but the symptoms have changed to that of gastroenteritis,'' she noted. The Government Headquarters Hospital superintendent, Y Narendra, and the paediatrician, K Ananth Rao, were present.

Our Warangal Staff Reporter writes:

A team of doctors from the National Institute of Communicable Diseases (NICD) visited the Mahatma Gandhi Memorial (MGM) Hospital on Friday and examined the children admitted there.

The team comprised NICD Joint Director, Ajay Kheda and Sunil Gupta apart from District Medical and Health Department officials.

After examining the children, the doctors said the condition of three was very serious and might succumb at any time.

As many as 27 children were admitted to the MGM in the recent past. Over 20 children have died in the district since the onset of monsoon in various mandals.

The team collected serums of 45 children which were being sent to Delhi and Hyderabad to diagnose the disease.

The district officials were tightlipped over the issue.

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