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Medical alert after 3 plague-like deaths : The Times of India
Pneumonic plague is suspected to have claimed the lives of two persons in two villages of Shimla and Uttaranchal. A third has died at the Post Graduate Institute of Medical Research (PGIMR) in Chandigarh. Another seven, some in a critical state, are currently admitted at the institute.
Pneumonic plague is suspected to have claimed the lives of two persons in two villages of Shimla and Uttaranchal. A third has died at the Post Graduate Institute of Medical Research (PGIMR) in Chandigarh. Another seven, some in a critical state, are currently admitted at the institute.
The government is taking steps to quarantine the two villages, Bhanpur in Uttaranchal and Hatkoti in Shimla, to check the further spread of the infection. Those who have come in contact with the infected persons will be given preventive dosages of antibiotics.
It seems the infection first occurred in a 35-year-old man, Randhir Singh, who used to repeatedly visit the forests in the region. The National Institute of Communicable Diseases (NICD) says he contracted the infection on February 2 and died within three days. A woman, Pushpa, who came to condole his death, developed symptoms after returning to her village in Uttaranchal. She died at a hospital in Shimla on Friday. Randhir Singh’s wife was the first to die at PGI. A team has already been sent to the state to advise the local authorities on the preventive steps.
While the first case of the infection could have been bubonic plague, a non-infectious form of the disease, in which the bacteria, Yersinia pestis, lodges into the nearest lymph gland, leading to its enlargement, it must have developed into its infectious form, the pneumonic plague, which can be contracted just by being near the infected person. Union health minister C P Thakur said even though final confirmation was awaited, the symptoms and the virulence of the disease did seem to point towards plague. It is also possible, he said, that the culture may not give any conclusive results as all patients are already on antibiotics. So other tests, such as the polymerase chain reaction, will then have to be conducted, added Thakur.
The former director of the NICD, K K Datta, said even in the early eighties, plague cases, although not confirmed, were reported from the same area in Shimla. This area is known to be a region prone to plague. Teams from the NICD have already left for the area.
It seems the infection first occurred in a 35-year-old man, Randhir Singh, who used to repeatedly visit the forests in the region. The National Institute of Communicable Diseases (NICD) says he contracted the infection on February 2 and died within three days. A woman, Pushpa, who came to condole his death, developed symptoms after returning to her village in Uttaranchal. She died at a hospital in Shimla on Friday. Randhir Singh’s wife was the first to die at PGI. A team has already been sent to the state to advise the local authorities on the preventive steps.
While the first case of the infection could have been bubonic plague, a non-infectious form of the disease, in which the bacteria, Yersinia pestis, lodges into the nearest lymph gland, leading to its enlargement, it must have developed into its infectious form, the pneumonic plague, which can be contracted just by being near the infected person. Union health minister C P Thakur said even though final confirmation was awaited, the symptoms and the virulence of the disease did seem to point towards plague. It is also possible, he said, that the culture may not give any conclusive results as all patients are already on antibiotics. So other tests, such as the polymerase chain reaction, will then have to be conducted, added Thakur.
The former director of the NICD, K K Datta, said even in the early eighties, plague cases, although not confirmed, were reported from the same area in Shimla. This area is known to be a region prone to plague. Teams from the NICD have already left for the area.