Not bacteria or virus but toxins found in samples: J&K govt on mysterious deaths in Rajouri village

The first death in the village occurred on December 5, 2024, when five members of a family died due to the mysterious disease. The family of seven had fallen ill after a community meal in the village.
Image used for representative purpose only.
Image used for representative purpose only.
Updated on
2 min read

SRINAGAR: As the death toll from a mysterious illness in Budhal village, Rajouri district, Jammu and Kashmir, rose to 15, authorities on Thursday stated that the deaths were not caused by any communicable bacterial or viral disease. However, toxins were detected in the samples analysed by CSIR-IITR.

“Investigations and samples empirically indicate that the incidents are not due to a communicable disease of bacterial or viral origin and that there is no public health angle,” a J&K government spokesman said.

On Wednesday, 10-year-old Zabina Kounsar, daughter of Mohammad Aslam, died from the mysterious illness.

With her death, the toll from the illness in the Rajouri village rose to 15. The victims include 12 children and three adults over 45 days.

The first death in the village occurred on December 5, 2024, when five members of a family died due to the mysterious disease. The family of seven had fallen ill after a community meal in the village. Five days later, on December 12, 2024, three children died from the same illness.

On January 12, a family of ten fell ill after consuming another community meal. Seven deaths have occurred since then, increasing the toll to 15.

The deaths have been confined to three families, who are interlinked and related to each other.

The mysterious illness has caused panic in the village, and villagers are very apprehensive about their health.

Thousands of samples have been taken by different agencies from the village, which comprises about 5,700 people.

“All samples have tested negative for any viral or bacteriological aetiology. The tests were conducted on different samples in some of the most reputed labs in the country. These include the National Institute of Virology Pune, the National Centre for Disease Control New Delhi, the National Institute of Toxicology and Research Lucknow, Defence Research Development Establishment Gwalior, the Microbiology Department of PGIMER Chandigarh, besides the ICMR-Virus Research and Diagnostic Laboratory, GMC Jammu,” the official spokesman said.

The government, he said, took several steps immediately after the first incident on December 7, including deputing a medical team along with the food safety department to collect food and water samples, organising medical camps, establishing mobile medical units, door-to-door screening, and deploying rapid action teams.

The team of state rapid response experts, including epidemiologists, microbiologists, and others from DHS Jammu, GMC Jammu, and Rajouri, visited the area to conduct detailed screening and collect contact tracing samples.

Experts from NCDC, NIV Pune, and PGI Chandigarh also visited the area to assist in containing the situation.

Meanwhile, police have formed an 11-member SIT to investigate the deaths.

“Efforts are on by the J&K police to investigate the incident,” the spokesman said.

The SIT is headed by Superintendent of Police (SP) Budhal Wajahat Hussain. The team members will also include experts from forensic microbiology, paediatric and pathology departments.

“The team will make sincere efforts to work out the inquest proceedings to their logical conclusions. The SIT shall also utilise the services of experts from the Food and Safety departments, Agriculture, Jal Shakti, and experts of FSL Jammu during the investigations. Progress achieved will be shared with DPO on a weekly basis for submission to higher-ups,” read an official order.

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