100 Deaths Due To Fatal Fevers Across Five States In One Month

Fatal fevers have gripped at least 5 Indian states with nearly 100 deaths reported over the last month from Madhya Pradesh, Haryana, West Bengal, Bihar and Uttar Pradesh.

Deaths after high fever were first reported from UP’s Firozabad district in August second week. MP has become the latest state to report alarming rise in fever with 3,000 cases and 6 suspected fatalities.

Officials in different states have stated different causes behind the cases of fatal fevers. In UP, officials stated the causes as dengue, scrub typhus and leptospirosis, Bihar’s cases were attributed to pneumonia and West Bengal said it was influenza. The causes for cases in Haryana and MP have not been ascertained.

In MP, health officials revealed that many of the people reporting high fever did not test positive for dengue but continued to report temperature and lowering platelet count as seen with the infection. Samples have been sent to the National Institute of Virology in Pune for further testing. As per health officials in the state, they suspect a new variant of dengue is behind the cases.

In Uttar Pradesh, 61 deaths happened in Firozabad due to dengue, as per state officials. Mathura has reported 11 deaths due to fever since end of August. The deaths in Mathura were not attributed to dengue.

In West Bengal, cases of fever and respiratory illness have been reported in around 1,200 children in the last week with at least 2 deaths. Some samples have returned positive for Respiratory Syncytial virus (RS virus) and influenza-B virus with one case of COVID-19 also detected, as per state health officials. Officials have said that there is no “specific outbreak” in the state and the case numbers are less than previous years.

Bihar reported 14 deaths suspected to be respiratory pneumonia. With the rise in cases of high fever among children, paediatric wards of Patna’s leading hospitals are reportedly filled to capacity. State health officials say that there is no cause for panic as the state sees cases of pneumonia every year. However, the cases have been reported a little earlier this year, the officials said.

Haryana first observed mystery fever in children on September 9. 7 children have lost their lives in the state so far. As per state health department, some of the fatalities may be because of pneumonia and gastroenteritis. An investigation has been ordered. Samples from the patients did not return positive tests for malaria, dengue or COVID-19.