BHOPAL: Authorities in Neemuch district of western Madhya Pradesh are on high alert following an outbreak of Guillain-Barre Syndrome (GBS), an immunological nerve disorder, which has so far claimed the lives of two children aged seven and 15 years.
The outbreak has been reported from multiple wards of Manasa town, which borders Rajasthan, since the second week of this month, following the deaths of the two boys within three days.
Since then, 13 more cases have been reported, including 11 patients aged under 18 and two men aged 31 and 60. Twelve of the new cases are from Manasa town, while one is from Neemuch city.
The administration has launched a comprehensive survey of water, poultry and food, along with health screening of families in the affected areas.
“Out of the 13 patients, five have been discharged from hospitals, five are undergoing treatment at the state government’s MY Hospital and Bombay Hospital in Indore, and three are receiving care in Jaipur and Udaipur,” Neemuch district collector Himashu Chandra told TNIE on Sunday.
Experts from the Integrated Disease Surveillance Program (IDSP) and a World Health Organization (WHO) team are in Neemuch to monitor the outbreak and collect samples for advanced testing.
Following the two deaths between January 11 and 13, Ujjain divisional commissioner Ashish Singh visited Manasa on Friday. Deputy chief minister and health minister Rajendra Shukla also met the families of the deceased children on Saturday.
“We’re in a state of shock over the loss of the two lives. One of them was a 15-year-old only son of the family, who died despite 10–12 days of treatment in Ahmedabad,” Shukla said.
“The government is serious about tackling the GBS outbreak. A dedicated ward is being created at the Civil Hospital in Manasa, equipped with ventilators. The government will fund treatment for all patients and ensure adequate stocks of Immunoglobulin injections (IVIG),” he added.
IVIG treatment involves infusing healthy antibodies from donors into the patient’s bloodstream to block harmful antibodies attacking the nerves.
The district collector said, “Continuous health surveys and sampling of water, poultry and food are being conducted. So far, over 30,000 people from more than 5,000 families in Manasa have been screened for GBS symptoms. This has led to the detection of 13 patients, five confirmed and eight symptomatic. The second round of surveys began on Saturday.”
Samples have been sent for testing to the National Institute of Virology (NIV-Pune) and an institution in Hyderabad, while blood serum samples have been sent to AIIMS-Bhopal.
In a new development reported on Sunday, a 50-year-old man, Gopal Patidar, from Kotda Bujurg village in Mandsaur district, was found with GBS-like symptoms and admitted to a private hospital in Indore.
The health department has since conducted screenings of 3,801 people in the village, with a team stationed locally.
One of the two elderly patients from Bhagirathpura in Indore, recently affected by contaminated water-induced diarrhoea, has also been diagnosed with GBS and is in the ICU of Bombay Hospital.
GBS is a rare neurological disorder in which the immune system mistakenly attacks the peripheral nerves, which carry signals from the brain and spinal cord to the rest of the body, causing numbness, muscle weakness, and sometimes difficulty in swallowing or breathing.
GBS begins suddenly and can increase in intensity over a period of hours, days, or weeks until certain muscles cannot be used at all. Some cases of GBS are very mild and only marked by brief weakness. Others cause nearly devastating paralysis, leaving the person unable to breathe on their own.