Eluru: A mysterious disease, the symptoms of which resemble epilepsy, led to the hospitalization of over 250 people from different parts of Eluru in West Godavari district since Saturday. One of them succumbed on late Sunday evening.
A 45-year old man, identified as Sridhar from the Vidyanagar area of Eluru town succumbed to the disease on Sunday evening, his family members said. He was admitted to the local government hospital in the morning with symptoms of epilepsy and giddiness in the morning.
Doctors at the government hospital, however, said Sridhar died of other symptoms, as he had recovered from his epilepsy symptoms by evening. The police authorities called for an autopsy report of the deceased.
For the last 24 hours, there had been a consistent flow of patients to the Eluru government hospital with symptoms of seizures, vomiting, giddiness and severe headache, leaving the officials worried.
As per the latest update from the health authorities on Sunday night, the number of affected persons crossed 285. Of them, 117 were discharged upon fully recovering. About 30 are ready for discharge. All of the affected tested negative for all known viruses, including COVID-19, authorities said. Their CFS (chronic fatigue syndrome) test results are expected on Monday. Doctors said the water samples collected from 22 parts of the town showed no viral contamination in the lab test.
Officials said scientists from the National Institute of Nutrition (NIN) in Hyderabad would be visiting Eluru on Monday to study the situation.