Unknown disease claims four in Banke

Janaki (Banke): Three people from the same family and a child succumbed to an unknown disease at Gegli village at Narainapur rural municipality-3 in Banke district.

According to Nagendra Kumar Shah, Chief of Narainapur rural municipality Health Section, the deceased have been identified as Shanti Pasi, 75, her daughter-in-law Usha Pasi, 26, and a minor from the same family. Elderly Shanti died on August 30, her daughter-in-law the next day and the minor on September 1, according to the Health Section.

‘Usha initially complained of headache, then stomach ache and had diarrhoea,’ Shah said, quoting the victim’s family. ‘We can’t claim that Usha had diarrhoea because two to three bowel movements in a day cannot be considered as diarrhoea,’ he clarified.

Usha’s husband Chhote Lal Pasi reported that she was treated at a clinic after experiencing headache, stomach ache and fever for a few days. Chhote Lal shared that his wife died during the treatment.

Less than a day after Usha’s demise, her close kin Shanti breathed her last under the same condition followed by her a year and half-year-old niece Nandani Pashi dying, said Chhote Lal.

Likewise, a 12-year-old girl Sufiyana Ali Sheikh also succumbed to similar kind of symptoms and illness, informed Shah, Chief of the Health Section. According to him, all four who lost their lives to unidentified illnesses were treated at the same private clinic near the Indian border.

He admitted that they came to learn about this news only today. A team of healthcare providers was prompted into immediate action by reaching out to the people in the village and treating the patients as soon as the Health Section was alerted about the prevalence of such a mysterious disease.

Narainapur-3 ward Chairperson Ajay Mishra said altogether 40 people have been examined so far. Among them, the condition of seven seriously ill due to the unidentified disease was improving.

Meanwhile, Chief District Officer of Banke, Khagendra Prasad Rijal, Superintendent of Police Tul Bahadur Karki and SP of Armed Police Force Bimal Dangi among others reached Gegli village to take stock of the incident.

CDO Rijal, during the inspection, instructed the Healthcare Facility in the village to address any potential shortage of medicines. The cause of the illness remains under investigation and the healthcare providers and concerned authorities are working to contain the outbreak and spread of this mysterious disease.