The number of Chandipura Acute Viral Encephalitis (CHPV) positive cases in Gujarat crossed the 50-mark on Tuesday. Four new cases of acute encephalitis syndrome (AES) were also reported in the state in the 24 hour. A month since the outbreak of CPHV in Gujarat, the state has reported 137 patients with suspected CHPV, among whom 51 tested positive for the virus as on Tuesday.
Tuesday also saw cases of Viral Encephalitis spreading to 24 of the 33 districts of the state, with deaths of 56 children being recorded.
Teams from the National Institute of Virology in Pune and the National Centre for Disease Control stayed put in the state “conducting studies” to ascertain the nature and spread of the virus.
Among the 137, the maximum number of patients – 15 – have been reported from Panchmahal district, while Ahmedabad Municipal Corporation and Sabarkantha district have reported 12 cases each. Of the 51 positive cases so far, seven are from Panchmahal and five each from Mehsana and Sabarkantha. The Rajkot Civil Hospital said on Tuesday that it has till now admitted 20 children to the special ward for suspected CHPV patients. Seven among them have died.
Hospital sources said among the 20 children, six have tested positive for CHPV, while eight have tested negative. Test results of six others are awaited.
He added that of the six confirmed CHPV patients, a seven-year-old girl from Padadhari taluka of Rajkot was discharged on Tuesday. Moreover, while one child has died, four others are undergoing treatment.
The eight children admitted as suspected CHPV patients eventually tested negative for the virus, six of them died with symptoms of acute encephalitis syndrome. One patient is still under treatment and one has been discharged.
According to the information, among the eight patients undergoing treatment at present, four have tested positive for CHPV, two have tested negative and reports of two others are awaited. The patients who came to Rajkot for treatment hailed from districts like Rajkot, Morbi, Surendranagar, Porbandar and Jamnagar, among others. An expert from one of the panels currently on a visit to the affected districts said the “widespread” suspected cases had called for an “extensive study” into the nature of the outbreak and the possibility of another “host” through which the inspection has spread.
The expert said, “We have been collecting samples of people in neighbourhoods that have reported deaths of suspected and confirmed CHPV patients. We are also collecting samples of the living organisms in these areas, such as cattle and even rodents, because by nature, vector-borne diseases are spread because the vector acts as an intermediary for transmitting the virus from the infected host… Here too, the sandflies can be one of the intermediaries but one cannot rule out the possibility that there is another host.”
Among the 137 patients with suspected CHPV, 29 were under treatment and 52 have been discharged, the government said. While six patients of viral encephalitis are from Rajasthan, where two children have died, four are from Madhya Pradesh, which has reported one death. One case has been recorded in Maharastra.
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