Doctors who are treating patients from the Baddal village in Rajouri, Jammu and Kashmir, say the likely cause behind the 17 deaths in the area may be organophosphates used in pesticides and insecticides. As per reports, the patients have shown improvement and are currently recovering after being given Atropine injections.
Atropine injections are used to treat organophosphate toxicity. Indian Express quoted a senior doctor, one of the experts that are treating the patients from the Baddal village, as saying, “We administered Atropine injection to patients from Baddal who showed similar symptoms, and they have shown improvements.”
However, the doctors have also added that the organophosphate poisoning is only a hypothesis at this point and detailed analysis can happen only after the food and water samples. along with samples taken from patients are analysed in labs. The detailed lab reports are awaited.
In Baddal village, all the 17 people who died after symptoms of fever, sweating, breathlessness were from 3 families. 11 other people from the same families who were admitted to the Government Medical College in Rajouri are now stable and 3 have been discharged after recovery.
Last week, the Baddal village was declared a containment zone and 300 residents were quarantined. Toxins were found in the water of a natural spring frequently used by the villagers.
