Mystery disease kills 3 in Ganjam

BERHAMPUR: Panic has gripped Talapatna village in Ganjam district after three middle-aged persons, including a woman, died and five others suffered from a mysterious ailment in the last 10 days. A medical team from here visited the village on Saturday to assess the situation.
On July 14, Prabhakar Naik was the first person to die. Bijaya Naik and Gayatri Naik died on July 23 and 24 respectively.All were in their forties, village sources said. The affected persons have been admitted to MKCG Medical College and Hospital here.
While no postmortem was conducted on the male deceased, the body of Gayatri was sent to Aska hospital for postmortem on Friday after police intervened.
"The cause of the death will be known only after getting the autopsy report," said additional district medical officer (public health) Pitambar Das.
A five-member team of doctors, led by Das, rushed to the village, 50 km from here in Dharakote block. "We have collected blood samples of some persons and collected water samples from different sources for laboratory test," he said.
Before their deaths, they complained of head-reeling and stomach pain. The body temperature of the deceased suddenly increased, family members said. The doctors said they might have suffered from stomach-related ailments.
"The condition of persons in MKCG is good. They are suffering from mild fever," said the ADMO. He spoke to the patients at the hospital.
Meanwhile, the villagers alleged that the deaths were due to witchcraft. They suspect four persons to be sorcerers. "Police forces have rushed to the village after the residents complained of witchcraft," said SP (Ganjam) Narsingh Bhol.