300 hospitalised by ‘mystery illness’ in Andhra Pradesh , India

A “mystery” illness linked to one death put more than 300 people in the hospital over the weekend in the southern Indian state of Andhra Pradesh. Dozens of residents in Eluru city started falling ill on Saturday night, with some losing consciousness.

The patients reported symptoms similar to those associated with epilepsy, including headaches, nausea, vomiting and seizures. The number of patients rose sharply throughout Sunday. By Monday morning 315 people were in a local hospital. More than 150 patients were released after treatment, but that left about half of those who were admitted with the unexplained illness still in Eluru’s hospital.

A 45-year-old man who was brought in on Sunday morning with nausea and seizures died, but doctors said he had recovered from the epilepsy-like symptoms and died of other causes, according to the Indian news outlet, Scroll.

Doctors have not been able to establish the cause of the illness through blood tests, brain scans or cerebral spinal fluid tests. Results were still pending on some blood cultures and tests to look for the E. Coli bacteria.