Mystery fever grips western Uttar Pradesh; 50 dead in Firozabad and 14 in Mathura, kids worst affected

In Uttar Pradesh’s western districts of Firozabad, Mathura, Agra and Etah, a mystery fever has spread like wildfire and killed at least 64 people, mostly children, in the last two weeks. A central team from ICMR is investigating the outbreak whereas the state government has stepped up surveillance. Is it dengue, viral fever, or scrub typhus? Details awaited.

Gaon Connection
| Updated: September 2nd, 2021

Sick children are undergoing treatment at the Autonomous State Medical College, Firozabad. All pic: Brijendra Dubey/Gaon Connection

At least 64 people, most of whom are children, have died in the past few days due to a mystery fever outbreak in parts of western Uttar Pradesh. The affected districts include  Firozabad, Etah, Mathura and Agra. Till yesterday, September 2, at least 50 people had died in Firozabad alone. Another 14, of which 12 were children, have died in Mathura district.

News reports of young children falling sick due to ‘fever’ are also pouring in from other neighbouring districts. Hundreds are claimed to be sick while a central team of the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) has been mobilised to investigate the spread of mystery fever in the state. Today, the National Centre for Disease Control under the Union ministry of health also dispatched a team to Firozabad to investigate the matter. The first case of the mystery fever was reported on August 18.

Meanwhile the state government has also become active. As per an official press statement (September 1) issued by the state government, a surveillance drive will be taken up in Firozabad district from September 7 to 16 during which the health workers will go door-to-door to screen people for symptoms of viral fever, dengue, malaria or other ailments. “The hospitals will also treat the patients free of cost as per government instructions,” it mentioned.

Sight of a garbage dump in Firozabad nagar nigam area.

Health workers have reported that the mystery fever is proving to be fatal in a short span as children are dying barely a week after getting infected. Some claim the fever has dengue-like symptoms whereas others have termed it scrub typhus, which  is caused by a bacterium called Orientia Tsutsugamushi and the infection spreads to people through bites of infected chiggers (larval mites).

The district magistrate (DM) of Firozabad Chandra Vijay Singh, who is visiting the affected villages to spread awareness about the precautionary measures, told the press today, September 2, that the disease is most likely to be an evolved variant of the dengue virus which spreads by mosquito bites.

“A WHO (World Health Organization) team has informed me that it is a new type of hemorrhagic dengue which is causing a sudden decline in the blood platelets of the patients,” the DM told reporters.

Also Read: Diarrhoea outbreak in a tribal village in UP’s Sonbhadra leaves a pregnant woman dead and several others in hospital

Mystery fever, hemorrhagic dengue or scrub typhus?

Sangeeta Aneja, Principal of the Government Medical College Firozabad, has stated that the possibility of these deaths due to COVID19 has been ruled out as the patients admitted at the hospital have all tested negative for coronavirus.

Fogging being carried out to control mosquito breeding in Firozabad, Uttar Pradesh.

“Most of the patients who are being admitted in this hospital are manifesting symptoms like diarrhoea, dysentery, viral fever, body pain, and most of them are found to be suffering from dengue. At present there are 240 children admitted in this hospital and three of them have died in the past one week,” the doctor said.

When asked about the probable reasons behind the outbreak, Aneja said, “It has rained significantly in the past few days and water is collected at isolated places and this has become the perfect breeding ground for dengue-causing mosquitoes”.

She also said that a team from the ICMR is presently investigating the outbreak to confirm if the deaths are due to a dengue-variant or some other infection.

A physician who didn’t want to be named has stated that the disease could also be some infection like scrub typhus or leptospirosis which will only be revealed after ICMR completes its findings. 

Mystery fever deaths in Mathura

Apart from Firozabad, 14 such deaths have been reported in Mathura district as well. Twelve out of these 14 deaths were of children. 

Also, a similar infection has been reported in the neighbouring Etah districts but there is no record of any casualties as of now.

Meanwhile, Varanasi district, in eastern Uttar Pradesh, which was recently reeling from floods is hit by a dengue outbreak as well. Unofficial estimates mention that as many as 300 dengue patients are presently admitted in hospitals across the district. 

A nullah in Firozabad. Some claim the mystery fever is a type of dengue but no confirmation yet.

Firozabad CMO transferred 

On August 30, Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath visited Firozabad and stated that the death of the children will be investigated to know the exact reason.

“Till now, 32 children and seven adults have died,” the chief minister had said after the visit, adding that the death of children will be probed to ascertain its reason by a team from King George’s Medical University in Lucknow.

Yesterday, September 1, the chief medical officer (CMO) of Firozabad was transferred from her post and she now serves as senior consultant of Aligarh’s Malkhan Singh district hospital.

A government order mentioned that Dinesh Kumar Premi has been appointed as Firozabad CMO.

“On the orders of the chief minister, a team of officials from the state health department had been sent to Firozabad to inspect the affected areas. Today (September 2), they went to these areas and ensured that water that had collected in these areas has been drained out,” the newly appointed CMO said.

Meanwhile, keeping in mind the disease outbreak in the district, the reopening of primary schools in Firozabad has been postponed. An official order has directed all schools to suspend classes upto class eight till September 6. Otherwise, all primary schools across the state reopened yesterday, September 1, after a gap of about 18 months.

Also Read: Severely malnourished under-5 children consumed by hunger in the pandemic

No clarity on number of deaths yet

The exact death toll due to the mystery fever is not known yet as there are inconsistent numbers being reported from various sources. 

The BJP MLA (state legislator) from the area Manish Asija had stated on August 29 that 40 children have succumbed to dengue in the district over the past week and also blamed the Uttar Pradesh health department and the local civic body for the tragedy.

“More than 40 children have died in Firozabad due to dengue since August 22-23. This morning (August 29) I received the sad news of (the death of) six children,” Asija was quoted in an English daily. 

“Most of these children were in the 4-15 age group,” he added.

Asija went on to say that CM Adityanath had dispatched 50 vehicles to the municipal corporation for cleanliness drive across the district. 

Awareness being generated about vector-borne diseases in Firozabad, Uttar Pradesh

“The vehicles came in April, but they remained stationed in one place for four months before they were used for the first time on Saturday. The municipal corporation and the health department are to be blamed for this tragedy,” he was quoted.

But the state Health Minister Jai Pratap Singh termed Asija’s claims as wrong and said no such reports have been received officially.

“The news is wrong and there is no such report,” he said.

Dengue preparations in other districts

Meanwhile, 320 kilometres away from Firozabad, Barabanki district has also reported at least seven cases of dengue and the district administration has launched a ‘search campaign’ to look for areas that have stagnant water which could prove to be a breeding ground for dengue mosquitoes. Such places are being fumigated with anti-larvae sprays.

Also, every community health centre (CHC) in the district is being equipped with at least two beds for dengue patients while orders have been issued to set up a 10-bed facility for such patients at the district hospital. 

A notice about dengue precautions in Sitapur. Photo by Mohit Shukla

“Whenever a dengue case is reported from the district, we fumigate 50 households in the vicinity of the patient’s residence. We also inspect these areas for pots, tyres, or any such objects that might have stagnant water in it. We are also raising awareness about cleaning such areas and disposing of the collected water,” DK Srivastava, nodal officer of vector-borne diseases in Barabanki, told Gaon Connection. 

Written by Pratyaksh Srivastava. With inputs from Brijendra Dubey and Virendra Singh.