Your post says November 2006? No news here about it today?

Good find..  160 dead and thousands sick in only two weeks?   Ironically enough, that's about the size of a "cluster" that you might expect to see .. 

Good find, keep us updated!

dennis2 wrote: ... tests have shown that only 3.45 per cent of the children are infected with the Japanese Encephalitis virus. In the 96.55 per cent other cases, the virus is "unidentified".

Bird flu strain in India, Bangladesh similar 26 Aug 2008, 0358 hrs IST, Kounteya Sinha,TNN

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< marginWidth=0 marginHeight=0 ="http://adstil.indiatimes.com/RealMedia/ads/adstream_sx.ads/www.timesofindia.com/India/index./1282005787@Right3?" Border=0 width=250 scrolling=no height=250 bordercolor="#000000"> NEW DELHI: The bird flu virus, that caused India's worst Avian Influenza (AI) outbreak this year, has been found to be "a lot similar" to the one that created havoc in Bangladesh. This has been confirmed by Indian scientists after it studied the genetic make-up of Bangladesh's H5N1 virus strain. India's eastern neighbour, after much persuasion, finally shared the genetic sequencing data of its virus with India earlier this month. The sequencing was completed in the OIE Reference Laboratory for Avian Influenza in Weybridge, UK. The H5N1 outbreak, that broke out in West Bengal in January this year, spread to nearly 13 of the state's 19 districts. A animal husbandry department source told TOI: "Both India and Bangladesh finally exchanged genetic information of its H5N1 strains. We have found that both the strains are related. However, we can't say that Bangladesh was the cause of the outbreak in West Bengal because we don't have documented proof to show that infected poultry was smuggled into India." He added: "We now know that both the viruses was of clade 2.2 variety which is a sub-lineage of the highly pathogenic Qinghai strain. The strain, however, is different to the one that caused the Manipur and Maharashtra outbreaks." India was almost certain that the virus came from Bangladesh through illegal poultry trade. Even agriculture minister Sharad Pawar had openly said so. The animal husbandry department then made a formal request to the Bangladesh government through the ministry of external affairs to share the genetic history of its virus. The H5N1 virus was first detected in Bangladesh in March 2007. Since then, over 47 of the country's 64 districts had been affected by bird flu. Even though Bangladesh reported a human infection, India was lucky on that count and did not see any humans getting infected. The outbreak in Bengal saw over 42 lakh birds being culled. Sources said that India had also made a formal complaint to FAO and OIE (World Organisation of Animal Health) about Bangladesh's slack handling to contain the virus, seriously putting at risk India's internal security. A team of the Border Security Force, manning the West Bengal-Bangladesh border, had once reported to the Centre how Bangladeshi citizens were seen dumping dead birds in no-man's land. var RN = new String (Math.random()); var RNS = RN.substring (2,11); b2 = '< ="http://adstil.indiatimes.com/RealMedia/ads/adstream_sx.ads/www.timesofindia.com/India/index./1'+RNS+'@Right3?" WIDTH=250 HEIGHT=250 marginwidth=0 marginheight=0 =0 =0 border=0 scrolling=no bordercolor="#000000"> '; if (doweshowbellyad==1) bellyad.innerHTML = b2;

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      RSOE Emergency and Disaster Information Service
Budapest, Hungary
     Back to WWA

Summary
Event Description
Situation Update
Google Map
Additional Information
About Country
Population
Risk Analysis
Photos
Satellite Image
Epidemic - Asia Common Alerting Protocol
Event summary
EDIS Number     EP-20080825-18215-IND            
Event type     Epidemic      Date / time [UTC]     25/08/2008 - 03:07:12
Country     India      Area     Pulandar and Dhar villages
County / State     State of Uttar Pradesh      City     -
Cause of event     Unknown      Log date [UTC]     25/08/2008 - 03:07:12
Damage level     Large      Time left     -
Latitude:     N 26° 16.000      Longitude:     E 79° 57.000
Number of deads:     160 persons      Number of injured persons:     Not or Not data
Number of missing persons:     Not or Not data      Number of infected persons     -
Number of evacuated persons:     Not or Not data      Population     No data!

UNDIAGNOSED FATAL ILLNESS - INDIA (03): (UTTAR PRADESH), REQUEST FOR
INFORMATION
******************************************************************
A ProMED-mail post
<http://www.promedmail.org>
ProMED-mail is a program of the
International Society for Infectious Diseases
<http://www.isid.org>

Date: Mon 25 Aug 2008
Source: Hindustan Times [edited]
<http://www.hindustantimes.com/StoryPage/Print.aspx?Id=9c992524-8c22-4c60-8dea-c595ff5d1cd7>


*****[This is not a continuation of the outbreak in March 2008,
reported in ProMED ref. 20080331.1194 below. This is another episode
whicb only began this month, August 2008 -- see ProMED
ref.20080811.2478 below. - Mod.JW]*****

Rural Kanpur is fighting its most frightening scourge -- a mystery
disease that has left a long line of bodies in its trail and doesn't
seem anywhere near finished.

What started from one village 2 weeks ago [week of 9 Aug 2008] has
now spread to 350 and has so far claimed 160 lives. Thousands more
are bed-ridden. On an average, 15 to 20 people have been dying every
day; Saturday [23 Aug 2008) saw the highest toll in a day: 24.

The district's health department is somewhat confused about the
nature of the disease that has struck. At the beginning, the
diagnosis was viral fever. Then doctors concluded that it was
falciparum malaria. But after 2 weeks, they have ruled out both, but
still don't have an exact answer.

"We really don't know what exactly it is; we are depending on the
finding of a team of specialists from New Delhi," said Dr RC Agarwal,
the district's new chief medical officer.

Specialists from the Infectious Disease and Surveillance Programme,
New Delhi, have collected the blood samples of a few patients. The
team will make its findings known in a few days.

But the fear of the unknown has resulted in a mass exodus of
villagers. Pulandar and Dhar villages under Malasa block are the
worst affected. About 1000 people in these 2 villages alone are
battling the disease. Dhar has taken the maximum number of
casualties. The village has lost about 30 people but only one doctor
has visited it so far. That was 15 days ago.

Dhar still remains a perfect picture of neglect and apathy. Heaps of
garbage continue to be littered all over. Houses are surrounded by
stinking filth and roads are waterlogged -- perfect breeding grounds
for diseases like malaria. The village's secondary school has been
shut down for an indefinite period. Children would wade through
knee-deep water to reach the school.

[Byline: Pawan Dixit]

--
Communicated by:
Ryan McGinnis
<digicana@gmail.com>

[This outbreak of undiagnosed disease has spread dramatically since
the initial report dated 11 Aug 2008 (see: Undiagnosed fatal illness
- India (02): (UP) RFI 20080811.2478). The disease has now spread to
affect some 350 villages in the Kanpur district of Uttar Pradesh,
affecting thousands of people with the death toll now at 160. There
appears to have been no progress in identification of the cause of the
outbreak, other than that malaria and unspecified viral fevers have
been excluded. There is no description of the signs and symptoms of
the disease, but the suspicion of water-borne infection remains in
view of the reported neglected state of the villages and persisting
flooding and lack of adequate drainage.

The results of the analysis of diagnostic materials collected from
villagers are awaited with some impatience. The lack of medical
support for the villagers is alarming.

The Indian state of Uttar Pradesh can be located using the
HealthMap/ProMED-mail interactive map of India at
<http://healthmap.org/promed?v=22.9,79.6,5>,
and the location of Kanpur district can be found at
<http://content.answers.com/main/content/wp/en/4/4b/Physiographic_map.jpg>.
- Mod.CP]

[see also:
Undiagnosed fatal illness - India (02): (UP) RFI 20080811.2478
Undiagnosed fatal illness - India (Uttar Pradesh): RFI 20080331.1194
2007
----
Japanese encephalitis - India (02) (Uttar Pradesh) 20071026.3486
Undiagnosed viral disease - India (02): (Uttar Pradesh) 20071026.3485
Undiagnosed viral disease - India: (Uttar Pradesh)20071022.3440
Japanese encephalitis - India (Uttar Pradesh) 20070930.3233
2006
----
Japanese encephalitis - India (Uttar Pradesh) (03): vaccine safety
20061222.3583
2005
----
Undiagnosed deaths - India (Uttar Pradesh) (02) 20051115.3342
Undiagnosed deaths - India (Uttar Pradesh): RFI 20051113.332]
........................................cp/mj/jw
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Taking the M out mysterious this could be a disease which occurs frequency in India, Hepatitus-E

Hepatitis E virus (HEV) is the agent largely responsible for epidemic as well as sporadic hepatitis in the developing countries. ^{[1],[2],[3],[4]} The virus is transmitted by the feco-oral route, often through contaminated water ^[5],[6] and affects travelers from developed countries who have been to endemic areas. ^[7] Primarily a self-limiting disease, it produces chronic sequelae. A mortality of 20-30% has been reported, particularly in pregnant woman who contract the disease in the third trimester. ^[8],[9] HEV has been implicated as an important etiological agent for sporadic fulminant hepatic failure (FHF) in developing countries. ^[10]

A waterborne outbreak of viral hepatitis affected a large population in the old city of Hyderabad from March 2005 through August 2005. The water distribution system in the old city of Hyderabad was examined for any recent changes in the supply system. Although acute viral hepatitis (AVH) could be differentiated into enterically transmitted virus or parenterally transmitted virus based on the mode of presentation, confirmation of etiology needs to be determined serologically. It has been well established that in endemic areas infection with HEV can be seen in association with infection by other hepatotropic viruses, such as hepatitis A virus (HAV), hepatitis B virus (HBV), and hepatitis C virus (HCV); ^[11] this may lead to FHF worsening the already affected liver cells. In view of the above facts, this study was undertaken to determine the etiology of the outbreak and the incidence of mixed hepatotropic viral infections (HAV, HBV, HCV, and HEV) among the individuals who were affected with hepatitis E in Hyderabad.

http://www.cfsan.fda.gov/~mow/chap32.html

comment: There have been instances of 30% mortality rates with this disease. It is very common in densely populated area with poor sanitation, and in some outbreak lasted up to three weeks.

Just a guess, but probably should be included in the list of possible cause of this outbreak.

Some others agree with this. There is data here in the IndianExpress -

http://www.indianexpress.com/story/352358.html

‘Kanpur deaths due to Hepatitis E’

Posted online: Saturday, August 23, 2008 at 0123 hrs 

New Delhi, August 22: The 40 deaths which occurred during the past 20 days in Kanpur were due to Hepatitis E, a form of liver disease, confirmed the experts from National Vector-borne Disease Control Programme (NVBDCP) who are visiting the affected area.

Note:

Preliminary results from Sanjay Gandhi Postgraduate Institute of Medical Sciences in Lucknow have confirmed that deaths occurred due to Hepatitis E,” said an expert.

The experts from Delhi visited the spot after the state health authorities pleaded helplessness in investigating the cause of deaths, most of which occurred on Monday.

Though the Kanpur state health authorities had earlier found that malaria was on the rise in the area, the NVBDCP experts said the deaths had not occurred due to malaria. “The laboratory has ruled out the possibility of people dying from malaria, as very few cases of malaria are reported. The cause of all the deaths, therefore, cannot be malaria,” added Dr G P S Dhillon, director, NVBDCP.

With symptoms like viral fever, Hepatitis E is not clinically distinguishable and diagnosis is made by blood tests. In India, very few cases of Hepatitis E have been reported so far and the recent spread has put the health officials on their toes. “Rounds of meetings are going on among experts. Also, health officials have been deployed in far-flung districts to inform about such incidents, if any,” said an official.

So far fever has spread across 150 villages, specifically in four blocks — Amraudha, Malasa, Dherapur and Sarvankheda — home to three lakh people in Kanpur. Seruva ka Purva village under the Sarvankheda Block has already witnessed over 100 cases and the death of two children in the past few days.

As many as 40 teams of doctors have been deployed in the blocks where the “mystery” fever has spread. The experts have collected sera samples of the people down with fever, which they will send to National Institute of Communicable Diseases for further examination.

Meanwhile, anti-mosquito measures have been intensified in the area. “Contaminated water supply and unhygienic conditions are the cause of Hepatitis E, the virus is fatal as there is no treatment for this,” said Dr N P Singh, professor of medicine, Maulana Azad Medical College.

Medclinician

Continuing - it still has been stated from several sources this is Hepatitus E and many deaths have been confirmed as that.

The conditions in India in sections are abysmal and the perfect breeding grounds for this and Malaria

Dhar still remains a perfect picture of neglect and apathy. Heaps of garbage continue to be littered all over. Houses are surrounded by stinking filth and roads are waterlogged — perfect breeding grounds for diseases like malaria. The village’s secondary school has been shut down for an indefinite period. Children would wade through knee-deep water to reach the school. Sad

Santosh Prajapati is struggling to cope with looking after eight family members who have been afflicted by the disease. He has hired a tractor to shift them to a hospital in Kanpur city. “I have borrowed money from my relatives… if they remain here they will die,” he says.

Express India a couple days ago claimed the illness is due to Hepatitis E due to contaminated water supply

MC

     Sorry the prior post is so dark, something in the new IE 8 Beta 2 is giving me grief.  To read it easier, right click on the post, then on "select all"  and it lights up.  John L.

WEB INDIA
News updated August 31,2008
http://news.webindia123.com/news/Articles/Health/20080827/1037958.html

Scientific panel formed to check fever that killed over 120

Lucknow | August 27, 2008 4:05:06 PM IST
 

A panel of scientists, including experts from National Inst_itute of Virology (NIV), Pune, has been formed to contain a mysterious fever that has claimed over 120 lives in Uttar Pradesh's Kanpur division in the last three weeks, an official said Wednesday.

"The scientific panel will be headed by M.M. Gore of NIV. At present, Gore is associated with NIV's field station in Gorakhpur district (of Uttar Pradesh)," an NIV scientist told IANS on phone from Pune.

Gore's field of specialization is anti-viral immunology, she said.

Besides NIV experts, scientists and doctors from Sanjay Gandhi Post Graduate Inst_itute of Medical Science, Lucknow, B.R.D. Medical College Gorakhpur and other hospitals are also the members of the panel, sources said.

I.S. Srivastava, director general (medical and health), confirmed that the scientific panel has been consti_tuted to counter the mysterious fever.

The unofficial count of the deaths due to the mysterious disease in six districts of Kanpur division is 160.

The worst hit by the mystery disease is Akbarpur district, where 100 people have died, said a district administration official.

Several villages of the district including Akorhi, Satti, Naseerpur and Chataina are badly affected, he added.

Even as experts fear the disease can spread to adjoining districts of Kanpur division, health officials refused to comment.

The mysterious disease, which is afflicting about 8-10 people daily, is marked by high fever, an official said. Symptoms of the mystery disease are similar to that of malaria and jaundice,

(Hepat_itus E?)

he added.

A team of officials from the union health ministry arrived in Kanpur rural district and collected patients' blood samples.asit/dd/rd/dg

MC