HYDERABAD: It has been a few days since Express had reported that scores of Rohingya Musilm refugees living in relief camps in Balapur have been suffering from frequent bouts of a mysterious fever. The health authorities, however, have not been able to identify the disease. Officials from the State Health department said that they would receive the results of the samples sent to Central Diagnostics Laboratory by Monday. It was reported in these columns that a large number of the people living in the refugee camps picked up fever over the past two weeks, including pregnant women and children.
While the Rohingyas living in the camps said that more than 100 people have fallen ill since beginning of the month, only 60 people who were suffering from fever were diagnosed by health department staff.
However, officials still do not know if the disease is dengue, malaria or some other infection. A mega medical camp has been organised near the refugee settlements, where samples to be tested for dengue, malaria, chikungunya were collected from more than 60 people.
“We have to find out what are they suffering from. The blood and serum samples are being processed and results are expected by Monday,” said Dr Shiva Balaji, State Programme Officer, Epidemics Cell, Integrated Disease Surveillance Programme.