The government on Thursday said the 15 deaths in Budhal village in Rajouri due to mysterious illness was not due to any communicable disease of bacteria or viral origin but toxins were found in samples by CSIR-IITR.
“Investigations and samples empirically indicate that the incidents are not due to a communicable disease of bacterial or viral origin and that there is no public health angle. Pertinently all samples have tested negative for any viral or bacteriological etiology,” an official spokesman said.
He said the tests were conducted on different samples in some of the most reputed labs of the country. These include National Institute of Virology Pune, National Centre for disease control New Delhi, National Institute of Toxicology and Rsearch Lucknow, Defence Research Development Establishment Gwalior, the Microbiology Department of PGIMER Chandigarh besides the ICMR-Virus Research and Diagnostic Laboratory, GMC Jammu.
The incident came into notice on December 7, 2024, when a family of seven fell ill after a community meal, resulting in five fatalities.
On December 12, 2024, a family of nine got affected, claiming three lives.
The third incident occurred on January 12, 2025, involving a family of ten who fell ill after consuming another community meal, with six children requiring hospitalization.
In the last 45 deaths, 15 persons including 12 children and 3 adults have died of mysterious illness in the Budhal village.
The government spokesman said authorities have taken a number of steps to find the root cause of the unusual illness.
“The department of Health and Medical Education has been providing the best possible treatment and management to the patients besides reviewing the situation on a daily basis. Experts from some of the most reputed institutions of the country have been arranged to manage the situation and understand the causative factors of the deaths,” he said.
The spokesman said the government took several steps immediately after the first incident on December 7, including deputing a medical team along with the food safety department to collect food and water samples, organizing medical camps, establishing mobile medical units, door-to-door screening, and deploying rapid action teams.
“A team of the state rapid response experts, including epidemiologists, microbiologists, and others from DHS Jammu, GMC Jammu, and Rajouri, visited the area to conduct detailed screening and collect contact tracing samples. Experts from NCDC, NIV Pune, and PGI Chandigarh also visited the area to assist in containing the situation,” he said.
“Clinical reports, lab investigations, and environmental samples indicate that the incidents are not due to a communicable disease. The toxicological analysis conducted by CSIR-IITR has detected toxins in multiple biological specimens,” the spokesman said.
Meanwhile Rajouri police has formed a SIT to investigate the deaths.
“Efforts are on by the J&K police to investigate the incident,” the official spokesperson said.