Mystery fever sweeps through Indian town

An outbreak of a still-unidentified fever swept through the town of Kakori, India this last week, putting doctors in the nation on high alert. According to local officials nearly a third of the entire population had been treated, though by the time State Authority arrived to assess the malady it had largely run its course; believed to be of a viral nature, samples have been sent to a State laboratory for identification.

National Authority put the official number of stricken at 200, though local officials claim doctors treated at least 25 times that many patients; fortunately, no fatalities were reported. While the tally remains in dispute all concerned agree that anytime there is an epidemic of a mystery illness it is potentially cataclysmic, be it 200 cases, 5,000, or somewhere between the two.

Kakori has a population of just over 16,000, and was once a thriving township noted for producing quality civil servants who served all across India. Conditions there have deteriorated sharply since those glory days, however, with part of that decline being reflected in poorly managed sewage and garbage disposal systems; researchers believe these conditions contributed to this latest epidemic.

Map Credit: Ssolbergj [via Wikipedia]; altered for this story.