State begins hunt for mystery pathogen killing children

Samples of only 22 of 64 dead kids tested +ve for CHPV; state takes One Health approach to find out which pathogen responsible for other deaths

- Brendan Dabhi

Even as the number of children who have been reported with symptoms of acute encephalitis synIdrome reached 159 in 35 days since the outbreak, only onethird of all pediatric patients have tested positive for Chandipura Vesiculovirus (CHPV).

Of the 141 samples whose results have been received, only 56 tested positive for CHPV, while 85 tested negative. Of the 64 deceased patients, just 22 tested positive for CHPV. In light of this situation, the Gujarat government has begun efforts to find out which pathogen could have caused such devastation across the state, after consultations with the National Joint Outbreak Response Team (NJORT) deployed by Gol.

Genome sequencing