Gujarat: Suspected Chandipura virus deaths rise to 20

The number of deaths due to suspected cases of the Chandipura virus increased to 20 in Gujarat on Thursday, The Indian Express reported quoting unidentified officials.

Two deaths, both children, were reported from Ahmedabad and at least 35 persons with symptoms of the illness linked to the virus were admitted in hospitals across the state.

Only two out of the 18 samples sent by the Gujarat government for testing were confirmed cases of the Chandipura virus, the newspaper quoted an unidentified officer from the National Institute of Virology in Pune as saying.

However, unidentified district health officers told The Indian Express that the deaths of at least 20 persons were suspected to be due to the infection.

The virus, also known as the Chandipura Viral Encephalitis, is transmitted primarily by sandflies and mosquitoes, including the Aedes aegypti species that bite during the day and is also known to spread dengue. The infection can lead to encephalitis, or the inflammation of the active tissues of the brain.

Children under the age of 15 years are most susceptible to the virus. Symptoms include fever, vomiting, altered sensorium, convulsions, diarrhoea, neurological deficit and meningeal irritation.

Among the patients whose deaths in Gujarat were suspected to be due to the virus were two children from the Panchmahal district, The Indian Express reported.

While a four-year-old girl from...

Read more