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Plague scare in Himachal: Expert team to submit report by Monday

The three member expert team from the National Institute of Communicable Diseases probing the death of Randhir Suhata and his wife Sulochana Suhata due to suspected plague has almost completed its investigation and is expected to submit its report by Monday.

The couple were residents of Chopalkot hamlet in Rohru village of Shimla district.

It was the detection of Yersinia pestis, the organism that causes plague, in the sputum of another patient admitted to the Indira Gandhi Medical College Hospital in Shimla along with Randhir's death that set off the panic about an outbreak.

The patient was a resident of Hatkoti, also in Rohru.

The team, led by B Bhattacharya, joint director in the Delhi-based NICD, is expected to submit its report by Monday.

Dr Advesh Kumar and Dr Kaushal Kumar, both deputy directors in the NICD, are assisting Dr Bhattacharya along with a team of doctors from the Indira Gandhi Medical College and the directorate of health services of the Himachal Pradesh government.

Chief Minister Prem Kumar Dhumal had on Thursday told rediff.com that Randhir had gone into the jungles and returned after 10 days.

At that time, he was running high fever and was rushed to the Post-Graduate Institute of Medical Education and Research (PGIMER) hospital in Chandigarh where he died, Dhumal said.

Talking to rediff.com from his office in Shimla, Health Minister J P Nada said, "We have deputed a team of five doctors from our state - Dr Rajendra Mehta, Dr Rajesh Thakur, Dr Rajeev, Dr Rakesh Kumar and Dr Jaidev Ratola - to help in the investigation."

The team has visited Jubbal and Hatkoti areas in Rohru in Shimla district, Nada said.

Nada clarified that reports about Randhir visiting a village in Uttaranchal are not true.

"He went for on a hunting expedition on January 22 and returned on February two. In between, he stayed at a place called Kelvin in the higher reaches. On February three, he developed a fever and was admitted to a hospital," Nada said.

"On the night of February four, his condition suddenly deteriorated and he died the next morning. Around the same time, his wife Sulochana also developed high fever and was admitted to the PGI hospital in Chandigarh. However, she also died on February eight," he said.

"Later, all the relatives of the dead couple, including their son, were admitted to the PGI. While five are responding to treatment, the condition of three is not stable," he added.

Nada said that all the 15,000 people living in and around Hatkoti are now being administered anti-biotics as a precautionary measure.

The minister denied that there was panic in the state and assured that the situation was well under control.

PTI adds:
A medical team was on Saturday sent to a village in Uttaranchal bordering Himachal Pradesh following a scare among residents about outbreak of the plague-like disease.

The team carrying anti-biotics, which reached Banpur village, has so far not come across any case of the plague-like disease, chief medical officer B C Pathak told reporters in Dehra Dun.

The plague scare, like in some Himachal areas, spread following the death a woman of a mysterious disease at the PGI hospital in Chandigarh.

So far, two people have died of the mysterious disease while 10 others have been infected.

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