ELURU: Hundreds of people flooded the hospitals in Andhra Pradesh since Saturday, December 8, due to some alleged mysterious disease in Eluru city. An initial study of the reports from the victims suggested that the disease stemmed from the use of chemicals in pesticides.
Multiple teams from some premier institutions have been constituted to complete the job to determine the exact cause of the disease in the city. The researchers suggest that organochlorine substances found in pesticides are vital in the infection. Such pesticides are the chlorinated hydrocarbons used in agriculture and mosquito control which also include DDT that is used in anti-mosquito fogging.
As water contamination is ruled out as the mode of spread of the infection, the teams are now focussing on other chemical aspects which could have triggered the outbreak. Officials said that samples of water and milk have been sent to the Centre for Cellular and Molecular Biology in Hyderabad for analysis of heavy metal content.