With the death of a number of children in West Bengal's Malda district suspectedly due to the 'litchi syndrome', a viral infection leading to death, a minister today said children should not eat green litchis.
"Green litchis contain toxins, which reduces the blood sugar level as well as glucose in the body leading to the infection, particularly in children," Minister of State for Health Chandrima Bhattacharya told the Assembly.
The virus affected the brain causing swelling, which showed symptoms of Acute Encephalitis Syndrome (AES) leading to convulsions and death in five to six hours.
While a number of children died near Kaliachak in Malda, many others with similar symptoms were battling for their lives at different hospitals.
The minister said that on Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee's instruction, the state government took steps to arrest the situation which created panic among residents.
Teams from the Calcutta School of Tropical Medicine and Indian Council of Medical Research were sent to the district by the health administration.
"Samples have also been sent to well known national institutes including one in Pune and the reports are awaited," the minister said.
Director of Medical Education Dr Susanta Banerjee, however, said that there was no conclusive evidence to link the disease to the fruit.
