'Mystery Disease' With Dengue-Like Symptoms Kills Over 37 Children In India

After battling a debilitating second wave of COVID-19 cases, India is now facing a new "mystery" disease, which has so far claimed the lives of over 50 people, including 37 children.

Several hundred have been admitted to hospitals in the northern Indian state of Uttar Pradesh, reported Hindustan Times. Their symptoms include joint pains, headaches, dehydration and nausea. Some reported rashes spreading across legs and arms.

However, none of the infected people have tested positive for COVID-19. Firozabad district in Uttar Pradesh was one of the worst affected areas, where people were reportedly spotted waiting in long queues with wailing children in front of pharmacies and hospitals. Though the disease was mainly found in children, it was found in adults too.

Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adithyanath told Hindustan Times that the first case was detected on Aug. 18 and the patients were taken to a private hospital.

"As the district administration came to know about the fever, a pediatric isolation ward was set up... where the death of three children was reported in the past two days. Two out of the three children were brought dead," he said. Adityanath said special teams would be formed to confirm the cause of the deaths.

Doctors believe it is a dengue outbreak since most of the symptoms, like declining platelet count, resemble the viral disease.

Dengue fever is a painful, debilitating mosquito-borne disease caused by one of four closely related dengue viruses. It is transmitted by female mosquitoes and has been circulating in India for hundreds of years. It is endemic in more than 100 countries, but over 70% of the cases are reported from Asia.

Many of the infected children did test positive for dengue. "Though this is dengue season, some children showed unusual symptoms along with fever, like inflammation of the liver and water retention in the stomach," a senior government official told The Print. He added a special team is studying the disease and "research will tell if this is a different disease or a new strain of the dengue virus."

Even after more than 10 days since the outbreak began, officials are still relying on NS1 rapid tests to check for dengue. The district hadn't conducted a more reliable Elisa (enzyme-linked immunoassay) test yet.

However, senior medical officer Alok Kumar believes the rapid tests help doctors to start treatment early. "These are 90% accurate, so we have not felt the need for Elisa so far," Kumar told The Print.

There are unconfirmed reports that the infection was identified as scrub typhus. However, there is no official confirmation from the state's health department.

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), scrub typhus is a disease caused by a bacteria called Orientia tsutsugamushi, and the infection spreads to people through bites of infected chiggers (larval mites).