TIRUVANNAMALAI: Eight months after a mysterious fever claimed many lives at Tandarai in the district, fear returned to the village as A Prem Charan (4), son of Anthony Raj, fell victim to it on Monday. With this, the death toll in the family have gone up to seven.
Sources said around 2.30 pm on Sunday, Charan was playing in front of his house when he started to vomit and swooned. He was rushed to the Government Tiruvannamalai Medical College Hospital by his mother Vimala.
After examining him, the doctors told the family that the boy could probably be discharged the next day.
On Monday morning, his condition worsened and he was shifted to the critical care unit. Some doctors from the Rajiv Gandhi Government General Hospital, Chennai, were summoned to treat the boy, but he died within two hours.
A pall of gloom descended on the village after the news of the boy's death reached the village.
The family blamed the apathy of the doctors for the boy's death. "Had I known the reason for the deaths of my daughter (Kirthika Merlin) and mother (Christha), I could have saved my son," Anthony Raj said.
He added that they had decided to leave the village three months ago to move to Bengaluru. "But as I could not support my family with my meager earnings, we stayed back," said the diferently-abled daily wager.
Of the seven persons who died in the village since October 5, three were from Anthony's family and the other four were his relatives.
K Soundar, a cousin of Anthony Raj, said police and other officials did not show interest in finding out the cause despite the recurring deaths. "Will the officials have the same attitude if others die. How can we live peacefully without knowing why our family members died," said Soundar.
On Wednesday, the health department launched a camp and began screening the villagers.
Meena, deputy director of Medical Health Service, Tiruvannamalai, said they were awaiting the autopsy report. Superintendent of Police R Ponni said that special teams have been formed to find out the exact reason of the death.
Collector Prashant M Wadnere was not available for comment.
Victims until now
Oct 5, 2016: Christopher, aged 13, dies after vomiting
Oct 8: A day later, Vinoth Kumar, Christopher’s uncle who came from Bengaluru to attend the funeral, started to vomit, dies soon after
Oct 9: Nelson (6), Christopher’s cousin, dies after showing
the very same symptoms
Oct 12: Krithika Merlin (8), daughter of Vinoth Kumar’s cousin, vomits while at school, dies within two hours
Oct 24: Joseph, the grandfather of Vinoth Kumar, complains of stomach ache and dies in a hospital in Chennai the next day
Nov 4: Christha (65) also complains of stomach ache,
dies two days later
Nov 8: Autopsy report of Christha suggests presence of yellow phosphorus (rat poison)
July 17, 2017: Prem Charan succumbs in hospital