Hindustan Times is reporting a mystery epidemic in Kanpur, India.
160 dead in two weeks, "thousands sick" in 350 villages.
Times reports it was initially diagnosed as "viral fever" (duh), then malarial.
Now apparently malaria is ruled out but 'cause is not known. Waiting for blood tests from New Delhi labs.
Times implies "viral fever" is ruled out, which seems implausible - rather I suspect they mean that some of the obvious viral infections have been ruled out, but it necessarily must be the case that it could be an obscure or new virus.
Presumably bacterial infection would be responding to antibiotic treatment, and poisoning is generally not catching.
Hepatitis E, caused by the HEV virus (duh), is acute but rarely fatal.
Symptoms include jaundice, abdominal pain and low grade fever.
Which sounds quite unlike malaria or the symptoms anecdotally recorded in these cases.
Could be some cases are HEV or malarial, and mixing in with the bulk, or there are secondary infections?
Falciparum malaria has about 3% prompt mortality rate, as I understand it, though I guess that depends on the exposed population.
h/t kos
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My bet's on chikungunya over Hep E.
One of the flutracker stories conjectures Japanese encephalitis.
None of the reports mentions rashes.
Anecdotal reports suggest rapid death in fatal cases.
'course the anecdotal reports are selection biased and almost worthless, but you'd think the Delhi folks would have a virus or two ID's by now.
It's food poisoning from eating Delhi meat....