JAIPUR: The health department while probing the deaths of five children due to a ‘mysterious’ disease at Phulabai Khera and Beraphali villages in Pindwara block of Sirohi from April 10 to 13 has found well water used by the villagers is of ‘unsatisfactory’ quality.
However, the National Institute of Virology (NIV), Pune, which tested water samples collected from the children, said they found no viral or bacterial infections, which the health department officials were suspecting initially.
“We had sent the samples collected from the children of the village to NIV, Pune. The reports have been received. It has been mentioned in the report that no viral infection was detected in the samples,” said Dr Rajesh Kumar, chief medical health officer (Sirohi).
All the children died belonged to 10-15 age category. The health department’s teams had conducted door-to-door survey of the houses to identify if more such children are suffering from the same symptoms.
Dr Kumar said, “The situation is under control and no such cases of children falling ill has been reported from the villages.”
The health department had sent well water samples to a Mount Abu laboratory. “In the lab report, the quality of water has been found unsatisfactory. We have chlorinated the wells to clean the water. After chlorination, we have collected the samples again and sent it to the laboratory to check the quality,” said Dr Kumar.
The villagers are still finding it difficult to believe that water of wells was the actual cause of children’s death. “We all use water from the wells only as there is no other source of water. Water is available at 50-60 feet depth here. We do not have any RO or and water cleaning devices and we have been using the water in the same way for ages,” said sarpanch Vipesh Kumar Garasiya.
