9 children die from unknown illness in Sitakunda village

Nine children of a hilly village in Chittagong's Sitakunda Upazila have died from a mysterious illness within a span of four days.

Chittagong Bureaubdnews24.com
Published : 12 July 2017, 01:40 PM
Updated : 12 July 2017, 05:47 PM

Around 46 children suffering from similar conditions have been hospitalised, said Civil Surgeon Azizur Rahman Siddiki on Wednesday.

Of the nine children, four died on Wednesday morning, he said. "We are not sure what caused their deaths."

The cases are all from Tripura Parha of Sonaichhari in Baraulia. The civil surgeon said he visited the village after being informed of the deaths on Wednesday morning.

The children, suffering high fever and severe breathing problems, are also losing consciousness following seizure. They are between the ages of 2 and 10.

Twelve among the 46 child patients are in Chittagong Medical College Hospital. The rest are being treated at the Bangladesh Institute of Tropical and Infectious Disease.

Two teams of Dhaka-based experts are travelling to Chittagong to collect blood samples of the patients, said the civil surgeon.

"Our team left Dhaka within an hour of being informed on Wednesday. They will investigate these cases," Dr ASM Alamgir, senior scientific officer at the government-run Institute of Epidemiology, Disease Control and Research or IEDCR, told bdnews24.com.

Leaves of the physicians at Sitakunda Upazila Health Complex have been cancelled to tackle the situation, the civil surgeon said.

He also said the people of Tripura Parha have been asked not to send their children to school to stop the disease from spreading.