Medical team to ascertain cause for mysterious deaths

A four-member expert team from the MKCG Medical College and Hospital has rushed to Gudrikia village under Daringibadi block in south Orissa's Kandhamal district to ascertain the exact cause of the death of eight persons in that village in two days.

“The four-member team of the medical college, consisting of experts from departments like medicine, community medicine, microbiology and pediatric rushed to the village this morning to study the cause of the sudden death of the tribal persons”, said Sonamali Bag, principal, MKCG Medical College. The expert team's visit to Kandhamal is as per the directions of the state government.

Initially, the doctors suspected that people were falling ill due to food poisoning following consumption of wild mushrooms. Later when more and more people became the victims of the mysterious disease with symptoms of high fever and vomiting, the doctors felt that the patients might be in the grip of critical malaria.

The exact cause of the death can be ascertained only after the medical test by the expert team from the Berhampur medical college, said Jatin Patnaik, chief district medical officer.

Meanwhile, several villagers have fled from the Gudrikia village under Saramulli gram panchayat in panic following the sudden death of eight persons. Around 40 tribal families are residing in the village which has no communication facility.

The situation in the village is under control now and no fresh death case has been reported from there, said Kishan Kumar, the Ganjam district collector.