Union health ministry has deputed a central team to study and report about the 'mystery disease' that claimed the lives of 24 children in the district of Muzaffarpur in Bihar in the past few weeks. The team comprises experts from the National Institute of Virology (NIV), Pune and the National Institute of Communicable Disease (NICD), Delhi, among others.

The Ministry has decided to send the team in response to a request by the State Chief Minister Nitish Kumar to examine the mysterious disease afflicting the children. Samples taken by the doctors of Rajendra Memorial Research Institute (RMRI) have been sent to the NIV and NICD for tests. The expert team will also go through the reports of these tests. The team would also collect samples from the animals in the area.

Unofficial sources put the total death toll at 34. Most of the children died after reporting high fever followed by convulsions and unconsciousness in Muzaffarpur. The symptoms were similar to encephalitis - a disease that causes inflammation of the brain.

The disease reportedly recurs during May-June every year in the same region for the past several years and the State wanted to investigate the causes of the disease in detail so that precious lives could be saved.

Patients started thronging government hospitals and private clinics in the district since the first week of June, with cases coming in from adjoining districts such as Sitamarhi, Sheohar and different pockets and blocks of Muzaffarpur.

According to reports quoting kala azar expert Dr C P Thakur, the disease recurs every year at the end of litchi season in Muzaffarpur. He said a white small germ is found in litchi fruit and this is a case for research whether the disease is co-related to it. He further said DDT spray would kill the culex mosquito which would prevent transmission of the virus.