Jammu, Jan 14: Fourteen people have died of a mysterious disease in Badhaal village of Rajouri district
The latest victim is a six-year-old girl. Of the 14 fatalities, four have died in the last 48 hours only, official sources said.
They said that the latest victim, the 6-year-old Safina Kousar daughter of Mohd Aslam died at SMGS Hospital Jammu. The minor girl’s maternal uncle also died of the same disease on Monday last in GMC Rajouri, they said.
Deputy Commissioner Rajouri, Abhishek Sharma, they said, is personally monitoring the situation to ensure timely intervention and mitigation.
The authorities have launched aggressive contact tracing as well as sampling in the area. “Food and water samples have been already collected to ascertain the quality and safety of essential supplies in the region.”
A dedicated team of the Health Department, led by Director Health Jammu, Dr. Rakesh Mangotra, and accompanied by Chief Medical Officer Rajouri, Dr. Manohar Rana, is camping at Kandi Kotranka, the affected area in the village, to oversee the operations, they said.
The administration has also stationed a mobile medical unit and ambulance on standby to address any emergent medical needs.
“The district administration remains committed to the safety and well-being of the residents and urges the public to cooperate with health officials during the ongoing surveillance and interventions,” the administration said in a statement issued on January 13.
“For any health-related concerns, the public is encouraged to reach out to the district control room or the local health authorities.”
Badhaal, which comes under the Kotranka sub-division, has been grappling with the mysterious disease since December 2024.
As per reports, five members of a family died due to the mystery disease on December 7 last year, followed by the deaths of three children on December 12.
Some of the most common symptoms witnessed in patients include fever, vomiting, sweating, dehydration as well as episodic loss of consciousness.
Preliminary investigations in the matter have pointed towards a viral infection as the cause of the mysterious deaths, Dr Ashutosh Gupta, principal of GMC Hospital, said last month.
However, he noted that further studies were required to reach a definitive conclusion.
Meanwhile, several experts from the Pune-based National Institute of Virology, PGI Chandigarh, AIIMS Delhi as well as the National Centre for Disease Control (NCDC) have already visited the region to help in the investigation.