Mystery disease kills 13 in Gorkha

People in a remote village in Gorkha district have started panicking after at least a dozen people died due to an unidentified disease over the past two weeks.

The disease - that starts with common syndromes like headache, fever and cough- claimed three additional lives Wednesday in Gumda VDC alone taking the death toll to 13.

The deceased belonged to a single family -- Dambar Maila, his wife Rati Gurung and their son Saila Gurung. Other deceased are Kisanman Gurung, Karina Gurung, Manoj Gurung, Sharmila Gurung, Kisman Gurung, Samali Gurung, Tikan Gurung, Saila Gurung, Kanchha Gurung and Tul Bahadur Gurung.

Additional 35 locals are suffering from the disease, reports say.

The District Health Office said a team of medical professionals left for the village Wednesday to take the disease under control. The DHO said it could not respond in time as it got the information about the outbreak very late.

Meanwhile, the disease has been identified as post-viral pneumonia. A team of doctors from the health ministry and the district hospital diagnosed the disease as post-viral pneumonia Thursday afternoon. The doctors checked up more than 60 patients Thursday, reports say. nepalnews.com May 07 09