Has Chandipura changed its pattern? ICMR teams visit Gujarat as samples of all 14 deceased children test negative for virus

Indian Express

18 hours ago

With samples of children, who died of suspected Chandipura virus over the last few weeks, testing negative for the infection, teams of the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) visited Gujarat earlier in July in a bid to study the 'changing pattern' of the viral encephalitis.
The teams collected samples of sandflies, domestic animals and residents from villages where suspected Chandipura deaths among children have been reported since June this year.
the ICMR teams camped in four districts of the state – Panchmahal, Rajkot, Bhavnagar and Valsad – and studied the pattern of the virus.
According to officials in Panchmahal, the ICMR team visited the district last week to gather samples of sandflies, ticks, mosquitoes and other vectors along with the that of domesticated animals and cattle, rats and human beings from the areas where four deaths have been reported.
Panchmahal Chief District Health Officer Dr Vipul Gamit told The Indian Express, 'The ICMR team has gathered samples of those in the vicinity of the family that witnessed a death in the last month. They will be studied for antibodies — IgM and IgG — to understand the spread of the virus. There is a changing pattern in the virus… the same case with Japanese encephalitis, which in the recent past, has not been detected positive in laboratory tests.'
Dr Gamit said that much like 2024, the Chandipura suspected cases —that later turned out to be negative after tests in Gujarat Biotechnology Research Centre (GBRC) — emerged sporadically from villages that were unrelated to one another.
'In one case, of a five-year-old boy from Panchmahal who died, and later tested negative, the other two children living in the same house — his cousins aged 7 and 8 — did not have any symptoms and are doing well,' Dr Gamit said, adding that the symptoms include high-grade fever, convulsions, followed by diarrhoea with 'little or no time' for medical response. 'Once the respiratory organs are involved, the children cannot be saved,' he added.
Teams of ICMR also visited Bhavnagar, Valsad and Rajkot to collect samples of the vectors and other residents in close proximity to the deceased.
Officials of the Gujarat government's medical department said that the ICMR will take the samples to its laboratory in Puducherry to check if the pattern of the virus has changed in the current season. An official said, 'The sudden increase in the number of negative cases of acute encephalitis syndrome (AES), which are not showing a positive report, has prompted the ICMR to send across a team this year to study the pattern of the virus. Specific villages in certain areas where the cases have been high have been selected by the ICMR teams for the study.'
Vadodara's SSG hospital has recorded 14 deaths out of the 24 cases, including a 1.5 year old infant from Dahod, of suspected Chandipura reported this year.
In-charge Medical Superintendent and Dean of Baroda Medical College, Dr Ranjan Aiyer, said, 'Every year, around June, in the month of monsoon, Chandipura cases occur due to vectors and sandflies, especially among people living in mud houses in rural areas… This year, we received unknown virulent cases of around 24 children, who presented similar symptoms, particularly in areas of Panchmahal-Dahod and even Madhya Pradesh. They deteriorated very rapidly despite a paediatric team treating them.. However, all samples have tested negative for Chandipura.'
What is Chandipura virus?
Chandipura virus belongs to the Rhabdoviridae family, which includes rabies. It is transmitted by sandflies and mosquitoes, including Aedes aegypti, which is also a vector for dengue. The virus resides in the salivary glands of these insects and can be transmitted to humans or domestic animals through bites.
The infection can lead to encephalitis and inflammation of the brain's active tissues. The symptoms include high-grade fever, convulsions, followed by diarrhoea with 'little or no time' for medical response, according to Panchmahal Chief District Health Officer Dr Vipul Gamit.
The Chandipura virus was discovered in 1965, in the blood of two individuals suffering from febrile sickness, in a hamlet of the same name near Nagpur, Maharashtra.