Rajouri mystery illness: Organophosphates likely behind 17 deaths, doctors suspect

The J&K administration, last week, declared Baddal village a containment zone and quarantined nearly 300 people

Doctors treating patients from Baddal village in Jammu and Kashmir's Rajouri district suspect that organophosphates, commonly used in pesticides and insecticides, may be responsible for the 17 deaths that have sparked widespread panic in the area.

Experts from across the country are investigating the cause of the mystery illness, which claimed the lives of villagers between December 7, 2024 and January 19, 2025. An inter-ministerial team set up by Union Home Minister Amit Shah, which had visited the village earlier this month to look into the deaths, is yet to submit its report.

The doctors arrived at this hypothesis after patients from the same village who presented with similar symptoms showed improvement after receiving “atropine injections,” which are used to treat toxicity caused by organophosphates, according to a report by The Indian Express.

The J&K administration, last week, declared Baddal village a containment zone and quarantined nearly 300 people. A bauli, or natural spring, was sealed after officials found traces of pesticide or insecticide in the water.

Organophosphates are commonly used to protect crops from pests and control the spread of insect-borne diseases, according to experts. They work by interfering with the transmission of nerve signals in affected organisms, often with lethal consequences.

“We administered atropine injections to patients brought from Baddal and the results have been positive,” said a senior doctor, as quoted by The Indian Express.

As per the doctors, it is too early to draw any conclusions. They said that samples collected from patients, as well as from food and water in the village, are being analysed at top laboratories across the country. A definitive cause for the deaths can only be determined once the lab reports are received.

The 17 individuals who died since December 7 in Baddal, after exhibiting symptoms such as fever, breathing difficulties, and sweating, all belonged to three families.

Doctors said that the condition of 11 others from these three families who are admitted in the Government Medical College in Rajouri is now stable. Three sisters were discharged on Monday.

As the death toll rose and the cause remained unclear, the J&K administration sought assistance from medical experts at leading institutes and deployed teams of doctors and health staff to the village. Initially, the deaths were suspected to be linked to food poisoning.

After a Lucknow-based lab under the Council of Scientific and Industrial Research laboratory detected traces of some toxin in the deceased, doctors at GMC revised their treatment approach. By trying various methods to address the toxins, they administered atropine injections, which helped stabilise the remaining patients.

To probe the mystery deaths, a special team has also been formed by the Jammu and Kashmir police.