Mystery disease claims '13 lives' in Sukma village, every household affected: What we know about symptoms and causes

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A remote village in Sukma district of Chhatisgarh, 30km from the district headquarters, is in panic after being hit by a mysterious disease that has claimed 13 lives in a month, according to local media reports. Nearly every household in this small village is affected.

The district administration, however, said that there have been five deaths and further investigation is needed before a conclusive diagnosis can be made, even as the news of the deaths took time to reach the authorities.

The state government has rushed a health team to the village. Since the villagers creamated all the victims before the health officials reached, no autopsy was conducted and the cause of deaths was not determined.

Health teams are going door to door asking villagers to alert authorities if anyone has such symptoms.

Symptoms

The victims complained of chest pain and accute coughing that led to deterioration in their health conditions.

"Three died in the district hospital due to age-related ailments and the causes of the other two are being ascertained. The main reason, our health teams have found, is the change in weather, coinciding with mahua harvest time, when villagers go into the forests and collect mahua the whole day. This is leading to dehydration and they are falling sick," he said. Kashyap said villagers are given ORS as they are adamant on going to forest to gather mahua.