Govt to seek US help on viral fever

HYDERABAD: As the country’s premier health research institutes struggle to give a tag to the mystery fever plaguing the districts, the government is now thinking consulting the Center for Disease Control (CDC), a US agency to identify the virus.
The strange ailment claimed three more lives on Thursday in the districts and one more in Niloufer Hospital.
The government could approach foreign research institutes, if the NICD or the National Institute of Virology fail to come up with a diagnosis in 48 hours, sources said.
On Thursday, paediatricians sent by the directorgeneral of health services visited Karimnagar, Warangal and Niloufer Hospital.
The team seemed to have concluded that the fever was being caused by viral meningo encephalitis, Niloufer superintendent Dr N C K Reddy said. As the mode of treatment and case management for all types of viral encephalitis fever are almost the same, identifying the specific virus is crucial for future health strategies, he added.
Dr Jacob John, an expert from the Christian Medical College, Vellore, who visited Karimnagar and studied about 20 cases, said the outbreak could be Reye’s Syndrome (RS). Reye’s Syndrome results in brain swelling, infection of the liver and kidneys and can result in death.
It tends to occur during recovery from a viral infection. Symptoms can include recurrent vomitting, convulsion and loss of consciousness.
Dr Naghabhushana Rao, a clinical expert on Japanese encephalitis, virtually ruled this out, for in RS high fever is unusual, persistent and recurrent vommiting occur and low glucose levels are recorded. This was not the case in the state. He ruled out the West Nile virus.
In Kothagudem, health minister Kodela Sivaprasada Rao maintained that the epidemic was a type of viral encephalitis, though experts were giving it different tags.
On Thursday, five cases were reported -- two inWarangal, one each in Karimnagar, Nizamabad and Adilabad. Warangal, Karimnagar and Nizamabad reported one death each.