AP CM Asks Health Officials To Find The Exact Cause Of Eluru Illness

AMARAVATI, Dec: 11 Chief Minister YS Jagan Mohan Reddy conducted a video conference on the cases of illness in Eluru and ordered for in-depth examination and research in every aspect to find out the exact cause of the outbreak. 

During a video conference with the authorities, Doctors, and experts from AIIMS, NIN, IICT,CCMB, NCDC and NIV, the Chief Minister said to test water samples, recheck and confirm if the illness is due to contamination of water or not. He said the presence of organochlorine, and organophosphorus is detected in blood samples and it should be definitely found how it happened. He said the state government has constituted a committee and directed to move forward coordinating with the various organizations, agencies, and experts conducting testing on the illness. 

The Chief Minister said the next review meeting will be held on Wednesday to further discuss the issue. He said the special focus should be laid on preventing the stray usage of pesticides and usage of banned pesticides and immediate action should be taken if banned pesticides are sold. He said only pesticides and fertilizers approved by RBKs should be delivered to farmers and awareness should be created among farmers on their usage. He directed the officials to conduct tests on the pesticides being used currently and said this testing should be done for the next one month. He said to focus on Organic farming after confirming if the water is the cause for the current situation or not and added that the products of organic farming should be promoted. He also said to collect rice samples for testing and the contamination could be due to pesticides. 

The Authorities and experts of AIIMS Delhi, Indian Institute of Chemical Technology, and Andhra Pradesh Municipal Department have said there is no evidence that drinking water is contaminated. The officials said only two people were fallen ill since the previous day and only 8 people in Vijayawada and 5 people in Eluru are being treated and all others are discharged from hospitals. The officials said samples are being taken from animals and sent to Bhopal for testing and added that Fish samples are also collected for testing. Tests were conducted to check for air pollution and all reports were normal. 
The Expert team of AIIMS, New Delhi said 16 water samples were tested and high concentrations of lead and nickel are not found and tests were being conducted again. Nickel is detected in the primary investigation of milk and it is further being studied. Nickel and Lead were detected in Blood samples and the lead is found in Urine samples. Pesticides can also lead to this current situation as they contain heavy metals. The samples were sent to CFSL to determine the presence of organochlorine and the results are awaited, they said. 

The team of the Indian Institute of Chemical Technology, Hyderabad said 21 drinking water samples were examined and drinking water is clean. No trace of lead or organochlorine or organophosphates, they said and added that blood samples have lead and organochlorides. The presence of Organochlorine and organophosphorus is detected in Serum samples. They are of the opinion that the illness is caused by both organochlorines and organophosphorus.

The National institution of Nutrition has formed a 9 member committee and their preliminary investigations revealed that residues of pesticides are the cause of the outbreak and research needs to be done in long run. They said further analysis on the samples is still ongoing. Mercury traces in rice are high and more testing is needed, they said, and added residues of pesticides were also found on the tomato and organophosphorus is found in the blood. They said it is yet to be identified how they entered the human body. 

The Expert Committee of NEER, Hyderabad said samples of underground water are collected and being tested. Results are awaited. The officials of the Municipal department said more than 100 samples of drinking water tested, showed no traces of heavy metals, organochlorines or organophosphorus. 

The Institute of preventive medicine tested 19 water samples and found residues of pesticides in them. No traces of heavy metals are found and Ecoli in water is reported normal. AP pollution control board also conducted tests and found that gases in the atmosphere are normal. 

The conference was attended by members of NIN, IICT, AIIMS Delhi, AIIMS Mangalagiri, CCMB, Neer-Hyderabad, and National Center for Disease Control, NIV Pune, NCDC members. Health Minister Alla Krishna Srinivas, Health Commissioner Katamaneni Bhaskar, and West Godavari Collector Mutyalaraju participated in the meeting from Eluru. Minister Botsa Satyanarayana, MP Vallabhaneni Balashowry, Chief Secretary Nilam Sawhney, Health principal secretary Anil Kumar Singhal, Special Chief Secretary Poonam Malakondaiah, and other officials were present at the conference