AP Health Minister Dr Kodela Sivaprasada Rao has apologised for the death of 65 children in six districts due to a mystery fever, believed to be ‘atypical measles encephalitis.’ “We feel sorry for it. The virus was so virulent that the deaths occurred within a span of 24 to 36 hours,” he said.

Addressing a press conference, the Minister said the highest number of deaths were reported from Karimnagar (28), followed by Warangal (24), Nizamabad (6) Adilabad and Krishna (3 each) and Nellore (one). He conceded that lack of adequate precautions by health officials in Karimnagar and Warangal led to the unprecedented number of deaths, all in the age group of 2-14 years. “ We have sacked the careless officials responsible for the spread of the disease,” he said.

It was not one department’s effort. A collective effort by the Panchayat Raj, municipal health, water works, social welfare and medical & health wings could have definitely helped in containing the disease at the preliminary stage, the minister said.

Detailing the precautions being taken to prevent the disease from spreading, Kodela said sufficient doses of measles and JE vaccines had been stocked in all the affected districts to meet any exigencies. “All the districts are on an alert with rapid response teams in place. Nearly 10 lakh doses of preventive vaccines are at their disposal,” he said.

With the government initiating a slew of measures like fogging, spraying, anti-larval operations and chlorination and monitoring the drinking water sources, there was a sharp decline in the number of cases being reported during the past two days. The government had also deputed experts from the Kakatiya and Osmania universities to the affected villages, while a rapid response team headed by the district health and medical officers of the respective districts had been constituted to take necessary steps whenever cases were reported.

In addition, blood samples collected from cases and contacts had been sent to the National Institute of Communicable Diseases (NICD), New Delhi, the National Institute of Virology (NIV), Pune, and the Veterinary Biological Research Institute for examination. Experts from NICD and NIV also visited the affected areas. The department was also collecting second samples from recovering patients since there was a possibility of them reporting positive to the attack despite their first sample testing negative.

The minister said that in view of the possibility of the outbreak of malaria, measles and JE during August/September, steps had been initiated to stock the required doses of the vaccine in all vulnerable districts.

Even as the minister said everything was under control, a report from Karimnagar said about 400 children were undergoing treatment in various hospitals in the district. Panic-stricken people were thronging the hospitals in large numbers for the treatment of children suffering from the viral fever. A total of 280 children were undergoing treatment in the government District Headquarters Hospital, Karimnagar, 82 in the Sircilla Area Hospital, 29 in Jagtial, 8 in Godavarikani, 18 in Peddapalli, two in Manthani and one in the Metpally Area Hospital.