SRINAGAR: More than two months after 17 mysterious deaths in Badhal village of Jammu and Kashmir’s Rajouri district, authorities have yet to determine the cause. As a result, around 400 people from 60 families remain in quarantine centres, unable to return to their normal lives.Since December 7, 2024, 17 people, including 13 children and four adults from three families, have died from an unknown illness in the village. All 38 patients who were undergoing treatment in different hospitals have recovered and been discharged, but the cause of the illness remains a mystery. Experts from national health agencies, including the National Institute of Virology, DRDE Gwalior, PGI Chandigarh, and AIIMS New Delhi, have visited the affected area and collected samples, but no results have been made public.A doctor who treated the patients expressed frustration over the delay. “It is very unfortunate that health agencies are yet to come out with results of the samples. It is over two months since the first deaths took place, and yet we don’t know what caused the mysterious illness.” He questioned whether authorities were hiding something or simply unable to find an answer. “Scientists have failed in their duties. It is a natural emergency, and investigation of samples should have been taken on a priority basis and results should have come by now.”The doctor also pointed out the difficulties in treating patients without knowing the cause of the illness. “If more cases are reported, what protocol will we follow to treat them? We don’t have any protocol for such patients.”
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