Rajouri/Jammu, Jan 22: Four individuals, including three sisters, were transferred to hospitals from Badhaal village in the Rajouri district of Jammu and Kashmir due to a mysterious illness that has resulted in 17 fatalities over the past six weeks. A central investigation team is actively working to determine the cause of these deaths, which have affected three families, and on Wednesday, a senior investigator noted that over 200 samples have been collected for analysis at various institutions.
The three sisters, aged between 16 and 22, were taken to Government Medical College (GMC) Rajouri after their conditions worsened on Wednesday. Another patient, Javid Ahmad (24), was referred to PGI Chandigarh from GMC Rajouri on Tuesday evening due to his severe condition, according to officials.
All four individuals are closely related to the families that have experienced losses due to the unexplained illness.
In the meantime, a team from New Delhi has been visiting Badhaal in Kotranka sub-division for three consecutive days to aid in the investigation, officials said.
Led by a senior officer from the Ministry of Home Affairs, the team arrived at Rajouri district headquarters on Sunday evening and received briefings from senior district, health, and police officials. They have set up a base in Rajouri town.
Shuja Qadri, a senior epidemiologist and head of the Community Medicines Department at GMC Rajouri, stated that preliminary investigations suggest that the deaths are not linked to any communicable disease. Instead, the focus has shifted to identifying a possible toxin in the food consumed by the affected individuals.
“Our epidemiological investigation has led us to potential conclusions that will be confirmed through lab diagnostics. It appears to be related to food,” Qadri stated in an interview with PTI. “We have sent over 200 food samples to various institutions nationwide in hopes of isolating the neurotoxin. We expect that laboratories will be able to identify the toxin within a week to ten days, allowing us to implement control measures to prevent further fatalities.”
He added, “The sequence of cases suggests that the toxin may have been consumed intermittently, either accidentally or deliberately, which is still under investigation.”
The 17 deaths in Badhaal, located approximately 55 km from Rajouri town, occurred between December 7 and January 19.
Patients displayed symptoms such as fever, pain, nausea, intense sweating, and loss of consciousness before dying shortly after being admitted to hospitals.
Earlier, a spokesperson for the Jammu and Kashmir government indicated that the investigations and sample analyses suggest that the incidents are not related to a communicable illness of bacterial or viral origin, thus posing no public health threat.
In response to the findings of neurotoxins in the deceased’s samples, police have formed a Special Investigation Team (SIT).
Local MLA Javaid Iqbal Choudhary, representing the National Conference (NC), acknowledged the challenging situation in the village but assured that all necessary measures are being taken to address it.
“The emergence of new cases has intensified the mystery, but we are optimistic that investigations by both local and central agencies will yield answers soon,” he stated.
Choudhary also mentioned that the four new patients were airlifted to medical facilities by the Indian Air Force (IAF).
The Divisional Commissioner of Jammu, Ramesh Kumar, along with Additional Director General of Police, Jammu, Anand Jain, have arrived in Kotranka to monitor the situation.
