India / Centre sends team to UP's Firozabad as 50 die of dengue-like fever

New Delhi: The Union Ministry of Health and Family Welfare today rushed an expert team comprising officials of the National Centre for Disease Control (NCDC) and National Vector Borne Disease Control Programme (NVBDCP) to Uttar Pradesh's Firozabad for analysing the mystery viral fever which has resulted in the death of over 40 children.

"The cases are largely of dengue fever and scrub typhus,", a top official of the Union Health Ministry said. The children in some districts in Western Uttar Pradesh have been reporting high fever.

The cases and deaths have been reported from Western Uttar Pradesh's Agra, Mathura, Firozabad, Mainpuri, Etah and Kasganj.

Many of them complained of joint pains, headaches, dehydration and nausea, and in some cases, rashes spreading across legs and arms were also reported.

Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath on Wednesday had ordered the removal of the Chief Medical Officer (CMO) of the Firozabad district after he visited the affected districts.

The viral fever which has spread in various districts of Uttar Pradesh is suspected to be dengue, Aditional chief secretary (Health) Amit Mohan Prasad had told Mirror Now.

"Reason of spike of such case is still under investigation but the symptoms are of Dengue. We have already alerted the health machinery," said Prasad.

Dengue is a mosquito-borne viral disease in which patients dies if he does not get the treatment on time. The most affected district so far is Firozabad where more than 40 persons have died in the past 10 days. Most of them are children.

Health experts also say this fever stays for 12 to 14 days and sometimes exceeds 102 degrees. The deaths are due to a sudden fall of the blood platelet count, which usually happens in dengue.