Fear has gripped Karakavalasa village in Anantagiri mandal of Andhra Pradesh’s Visakhapatnam district after three members of a family died in the last few days. The three persons died at a time when many residents in the village were exhibiting similar symptoms: breathlessness and pedal edema, which is swelling in the foot. The deceased, too, had been exhibiting the same symptoms. Other deaths, too, were reported around the same time in the village.
Although the cause of the deaths and the sickness was not known initially, it was later found to be a case of food poisoning, caused by consuming the meat of a dead cow.
Following a medical camp in the village, a few residents were shifted to Gajapatinagaram government hospital in Vizianagaram district and some were shifted to King George Hospital in Visakhapatnam.
Speaking to TNM, Vizianagaram District Medical Health Officer (DMHO), K Vijayalakshmi said, “Three deaths took place in the tribal agency area, which falls under Visakhapatnam district. Initially, most of the residents who fell sick showed symptoms of breathlessness and swollen feet. There was no clarity about what the illness was. On Friday, we conducted a medical camp in the village where doctors from the Primary Health Care (PHC) Centre in Mentada examined the residents. The common cause linking these cases was their food history; many of them had consumed the meat of a dead cow.”
The doctors who visited the village found that all those who had fallen sick were showing similar symptoms, and that is when they found that they had all consumed the meat of the same dead cow.
“They fell sick due to food poisoning after they ate the meat of a cow that had died three days ago,” the DMHO said.
The tribal village, though located in Visakhapatnam, is closer to Mentada mandal of Vizianagaram district. The closest PHC is in Bhimavaram.
Initially, the residents believed the three members had died due to the unknown disease. This was ruled out later when it was found that they, too, had consumed the meat of the same dead cow and died due to food poisoning. However, the other deaths in the village were found to be due to other diseases.
The DMHO also said that the affected patients are recovering and have not been showing the same symptoms as earlier.