At least seven persons have died mysteriously in the last few days in Simdega district. The health authorities suspect that Anthrax - one of the deadly bacteria - could be the reason behind these deaths.
The district administration taking quick action, has quarantined eight afflicted persons separately in the hospital in order to check the bacteria from spreading further among the people.
"People suffering from the suspected disease have properly been quarantined in the hospital and are being attended regularly by the civil surgeon himself from time to time," said Simdega DC Rajiv Ranjan.
Victims are under medication whose condition was said to be quite stable and there is no need to panic as the disease is only being suspected yet, added the DC.
Ranjan said that a team of microbiologists from RIMS, Ranchi on Wednesday visited the district and has collected the blood samples of the people suffering from the suspected disease. The bacteria could be confirmed only after getting the test reports, he said.
The District Civil Surgeon also asserted that Anthrax is being suspected in the case of some of the patients brought to the hospital. "Symptoms detected in the patients during diagnosis suggest bacteria of Anthrax in their bodies," said Civil Surgeon Dr. Akhauri Durga Nandan Prasad. The disease however, is yet to be confirmed from the higher centres at RIMS, Ranchi, added Prasad.
Prasad further added that the State Health Department in Ranchi as well as RIMS has already been informed and blood samples have been sent to RIMS. According to the District Civil Surgeon, a team of RIMS visiting the district directly discarded any possibility of having any signs of Antrax bacteria in the samples on the first hand as they were quite reluctant to take the samples to Ranchi.
"We have kept the post- mortem specimen; but the RIMS doctors were not ready to take it from here saying the tests could only be done at a super-speciality centre in foreign countries," Prasad said.
"We are doing our best what could be done to treat the patients admitted here in the Sadar Hospital of Simdega," he added.
Prasad also asserted that seven people have already died and eight are under treatment in the last few days while two patients ran away from the hospital. Meanwhile, a five-member team of doctors from RIMS led by Dr Manoj Kumar reached Simdega in the afternoon which took the blood samples of the persons suffering from the mysterious disease in order to investigate further.
According to the Civil Surgeon, teams from the Christian Medical College, Vellore, and the World Health Organization from Delhi will also be visiting Simdega to provide medical support to the district administration.
Anthrax is a disease caused by the bacteria Bacillus anthracis, a germ that lives in soil. The disease had hit the headlines after the bio-terror attacks in the year 2001. In those attacks, someone purposely spread Anthrax through the US mail killing five people and leaving at least 22 sick.
Anthrax is a rare disease which affects animals such as cattle, sheep and goats more often than people. People can get Anthrax from contact with infected animals, wool, meat, or hides causing three forms of disease in people - cutaneous which affects the skin, inhalation which affects the lungs and gastrointestinal affecting the digestive system.
Antibiotics often cure Anthrax if it is diagnosed early. But many people don't know they have Anthrax until it is too late to treat. A vaccine to prevent Anthrax is also available with the Army and disaster management institutions.