Mysterious deaths in Rajouri: Experts rule out viral infection

The deaths of eight persons, including seven minors, in Badhal village of Rajouri district last month have been ruled out as being caused by a viral infection, health authorities have confirmed.

Initially, a viral infection was suspected as the cause, but investigations have ruled this out. State epidemiologist Dr Harjeet Rai said chemical analysis of samples is ongoing, with results awaited from labs outside J&K. “It has been confirmed that the deaths were not caused by a virus,” Dr Rai said.

The fatalities, involving two families, occurred over several days. On December 8, Mohammad Fazal and his four children succumbed to the illness. Shortly after, three children from Mohammad Rafiq’s family also died. On December 23, Rafiq’s pregnant wife, Razeem Akhter, died unrelated to the mysterious illness. Her death, attributed to alleged medical negligence, led to the suspension of five doctors from Government Medical College (GMC), Rajouri.

The health crisis prompted intervention from national institutions, including teams from the National Institute of Virology (Pune), PGI (Chandigarh), National Centre for Disease Control (Delhi) and AIIMS (Delhi). Rapid response teams were deployed, medicines stocked and an isolation ward set up at GMC, Rajouri, and SMGS Hospital in Jammu. A Biosafety Level 3 (BSL-3) mobile laboratory was sent to expedite testing.

Sources revealed that some medicines used by the affected families were also sent for analysis. Experts are continuing efforts to determine the exact cause of the deaths, which rattled the health authorities and triggered a comprehensive investigation.