Mystery fever and diarrhoea that have spread in two villages in Gobindapur and Daudpur under the Banshihari block in South Dinajpur have so far affected 80 villagers. Twenty of them have been admitted in the Rashidpur hospital, while a medical team led by the Banshihari BDO, has visited the villages and taken samples of the drinking water source there.

According to officials of the district health department, they have already taken up preventive measures in the entire area. Local people said that 20 villagers were initially admitted in the Rashidpur hospital with diarrhoea on Wednesday night after they attended an Iftar party and ate there on Tuesday.

Later, fever started affecting the villagers. “Eighty persons are presently suffering from diarrhoea and fever. The symptoms are high fever, headache and vomiting. A total of 20 villagers are undergoing treatment in the Rashidpur hospital. A medical team has visited the village,” health department sources said.

The block administration, in the meantime, has arranged for purified drinking water for the villagers. A medical team led by the health department has started an awareness campaign in the villages too, while special care is being taken to look after the sources of drinking water in the villages, mainly water bodies and hand pumps, it is learnt.

“We had attended an Iftar party in our village. Later, some villagers fell ill with symptoms of vomiting and fever. They were admitted to the Rashidpur hospital. The number of patients suffering from diarrhoea and the unknown fever is increasing. Not only in Gabindapur, people living in Daudpur are also experiencing similar symptoms,” said one of the villagers, Md Mubarak Hussain.

According to Banshihari BDO Subhajit Das, the process of disinfecting water sources in the village has begun. “The block administration has put in all its effort to contain the situation as quickly as possible. There are no reports of new patients. Medicines are being distributed across the village and we are monitoring the situation,” he said.

Chief Medical Officer, South Dinajpur, Sukumar Dey said, “I visited both the villages yesterday(Thursday). The health department has collected food and water samples from the villages. Health staffs are trying hard to detect the infecting agent. We hope that the infection will soon go away. The situation is under control.”