CHANDIGARH: Two out of the four children who died in October this year in Tauru block of Nuh district in Haryana have been found infected with Rickettsial and Leptospirosis disease. This infestation is caused by rats. Local authorities have issued an alert.
Ruling out Encephalitis, the health department claimed that samples tested negative for the same in two subsequent tests and it was infection carried by rodents which made children ill. Chief medical officer of Nuh Dr Rajeev Kumar said,
“No new cases have been reported but we have alerted local civic agencies, animal husbandry and veterinary departments and nearby districts in Haryana, UP and Rajasthan. The samples test results have come in and it was rodents which were responsible for the deaths.
These children lived in an isolated colony of around 17 houses near the fields and picked up infection there.” Rickettsia is a group of vector-borne organisms that cause acute febrile illnesses. These can only survive inside cells.
Amongst various causes, the house mouse is the natural host of the mite transmitting rickettsialpox. Leptospirosis is a disease caused by bacteria in the urine of infected animals, especially rats. Rats are the most common source of Leptospirosis. Last month, panic had gripped Tauru area of Nuh, as four children, all cousins aged between 4 to 7 years, died one after another owing to mysterious illness.