Over the weekend mystery has swept through the city of Eluru In Southern India, hundreds of people collapsed and experienced nausea and epilepsy-like behaviour, there have been reports of people loosing consciousness and foaming at the mouth.
Andhra Pradesh is already a state under extreme pressure with over 800,00 active coronavirus cases All of these patients tested negative for COVID-19. Dolla Joshi Roy a district surveillance officer has said that 455 people had been taken to hospital and 200 had since been discharged.
An investigation is taking place to figure out what has caused this mysterious outbreak. Initially officials suspected water contamination because all of the patients shared a common water source. However, Alla Kali Krishna Srinivas the states Health Minister said that tests had ruled out both water contamination and air pollution as the cause. This illness could be food or airborne or some other condition, further tests will hopefully answer the burning question.
One thing they do know is that this is a very localised situation as the people affected all lived in the same city. Blood tests performed so far have not found evidence of other viral infections. Authorities from a number of leading Indian health institutes are heading to Eluru to help investigate the cases.
