The outbreak of the mysterious disease in Eluru, Andhra Pradesh continues to haunt the state as it has been witnessing hundreds of fresh hospitalizations while the health authorities are caught in the hands of perplexion as they are attempting to ascertain the cause and source of the disease and addressing the medical cure, which becomes imperative at his hour as the infection is putting many into the hospitals.  

The disease has been haunting the state since Saturday after hundreds of people have got admitted to the hospitals with the symptoms of nausea and epilepsy. People had suddenly lost their consciousness and rushed to the medical facilities and the health authorities were baffled to diagnose the cause of the disease. With more cases of infections, Eluru in the West Godavari district has been centered as the epicenter of the spread. The state government has launched a probe into the source and spread of the mysterious disease. 

According to reports, the preliminary analysis of test reports had revealed that the role of chemical substances found in pesticides in the infection. PTI reported that several teams of medical experts from premier institutions of the country had camped in Andhra Pradesh to unveil the accurate cause of the disease in Eluru and the teams are investigating the role of organochlorine substances in the infection in the city. 

Organochlorine pesticides are chlorinated hydrocarbons used in agriculture and mosquito control. This chemical substance has largely been used in anti-mosquito fogging. One of the medical experts, while responding to the question on the role of organochlorine pesticides behind the disease, said that there are large possibilities that these pesticides can be the reason for the outbreak and added that the expert teams are waiting for confirmation from the laboratory reports.

A 45-year-old man from Kandrika Gudem in Eluru was the first case of reporting the disease after had developed convulsions on December 5 at around 3.30 pm. He was moved to the hospital and ironically, it was identified that the quadragenarian had no previous history of fever, headache, vomiting, head injury, trauma, or diarrhea. there have been mass reportings of convulsions from 5 pm on Saturday as many persons had contracted the disease. While most of the affected persons had reported no previous histories of symptoms, some had reported vomiting within the Eluru municipality. Following the grounds of spread, Andhra Pradesh had witnessed a total of hundred cases from 7 pm to 11 pm on Saturday who got affected by the mysterious disease. 

The ground level teams are collecting and testing the water samples in the locality as, the reports say, most of the cases were found to have a common source of water supply from Pampula Cheruvu. However, Deputy Chief Minister of Andhra Pradesh AKK Srinivas said that the test results had established that water contamination was not the cause of the mysterious disease. 

With the view of ascertaining the disease, water samples have been sent for analysis, and nine units of milk samples from the affected areas have been dispatched for testing. Random sampling CSF (Cerebrospinal fluid) samples were taken from the affected persons. However, the authorities say that the results of these reports were normal and the affected persons had also undergone rapid antigen tests and the cases were reported negative for COVID-19. The tests for epidemics like Dengue and Chikungunya were also done and returned negative. 

While the water contamination wasn't spelled as the reason behind the outbreak and with all other tests were normal, the medical teams have now been focusing on other chemical agents, including neurotoxin, that could have led to the outbreak. On Monday, Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister Jagan Mohan Reddy had visited the Government General Hospital in Eluru and he spoke to the affected people and asserted that the government will provide all help for their recovery. The Chief Minister, after reviewing the situation, had directed the authorities to stay on alert and get prepared to handle the situation. 

According to reports, Andhra Pradesh had recorded over 450 cases affected by the mysterious disease till Tuesday evening of which around 270 people have been discharged from hospital and over 180 people are currently getting treated at the hospitals while one had succumbed to nausea and epilepsy, which are the symptoms of the mysterious disease. On Monday, the Vice-President Secretariat had said that the Central government is deploying a three-member team of medical experts to Eluru. The team includes an expert from AIIMS, a virologist from the National Institute of Virology, and a public health expert from the National Center for Disease Control.