Western Uttar Pradesh grapples with the outbreak of a mystery fever

Uttar Pradesh is grappling with the outbreak of a mystery fever in a few western districts at a time the state has witnessed a sharp decline in Covid-19 cases.

The disease — charac­ter­i­sed by high fever, sudden drop in blood platelet count and, in some cases, severe dehyd­rat­ion — has so far claimed 70 lives, mostly children. Firoz­a­bad has been the worst hit dist­r­ict, with nea­r­ly 50 cas­ualties. It has also grip­ped Agra, Math­ura, Mainpuri, Eta­wah and Kasganj in the past few days.

On Monday, Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath had ordered setting up a special team to investigate the outbreak and suggest immediate steps to contain its spread in Firoza­bad and adjoining areas. In a review meeting on Tuesday, the CM directed the special team to camp in Firoz­abad and expedite relief mea­sures, said UP Additional Chief Secretary Navneet Sehgal.

“Not only children, but adults have also taken ill in Firozabad. The CM has asked the health depart­ment to shift pat­ients to the medical college and increase the number of beds, if necessary. The gover­n­ment will also increase the number of resident doctors and paramedical staff to contain the spread,” he added.

According to unconfirmed reports, the infection was identified as scrub typhus after a health department team collected samples from a village in Mathura. An official word is, how­ever, awaited.

T Jacob John, a former director at the ICMR’s Centre of Advanced Re­search in Virology, said scrub typhus has no correlation with Covid.