Jammu, June 9 (IANS) A total of 35 people were hospitalised in J&K’s Rajouri district after they fell ill due to some unidentified disease, as of Monday, rekindling the horror of 17 deaths due to a mysterious disease in Badhaal area of the district.

As many as 17 people had died between December 7, 2024, to January 19, 2025, in the Badhaal area of Rajouri.

All the deaths in the Badhaal area had taken place in three families. Authorities had declared the entire Badhaal village a containment zone and shifted the residents to a quarantine centre from where they were released after over a month.

A chance treatment of the affected patients of Badhaal village with atropine had unravelled the mysterious disease, and after administering atropine, doctors had succeeded in treating the affected people and also prevented any further deaths in Badhaal village.

Whether or not the same antidote works with patients reporting illness this time needs to be watched.

Officials said this time, the illness has affected villagers in Kotliparran village of Manjakote tehsil of Rajouri.

“All admitted patients are stable. Four of them have been referred to the Government Medical College (GMC) in Rajouri,” a doctor heading the medical team told reporters in the village.

A team from the Health Department has visited the village, collected water samples and sent them for testing, the doctor said.

The patients exhibited symptoms of waterborne disease, prompting immediate medical attention, officials said.

While investigations are underway to ascertain the exact cause of the illness, health officials suspect contaminated drinking water.

“A team from GMC Rajouri collected water samples from three local wells. The district administration has sealed the wells pending test results,” doctors said.

“It can be a possible outbreak of acute gastroenteritis, according to the information received from the community medicine department. The symptoms included stomach pain, fever, dehydration, and diarrhoea. Health Department officials are closely monitoring the situation after assuring the public that appropriate measures are being taken to ensure public safety,” an official added.

–IANS

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