Blood samples collected in Kashmir village after girl dies of hepatitis-A

Kulgam chief medical officer Dr Mohammad Rafiq Dhobi said that villagers of Turk Tachloo village were in panic following the death of a minor girl

Srinagar: Panic gripped people of a village in south Kashmir’s Kulgam district following the death of a girl suffering from hepatitis-A.

Representational image.

Kashmir health authorities on Friday rushed a team of doctors to Turk Tachloo village in Kulgam and collected blood samples from around 100 people besides taking water samples to check if there was any outbreak of the highly contagious virus, which affects the liver.

Kulgam chief medical officer Dr Mohammad Rafiq Dhobi said that villagers were in panic following the death of a minor girl.

“The girl was admitted to JVC Srinagar, and she passed away. She had hepatitis-A but we are not sure what was the actual cause of her death,” Dhobi said.

He said that there was no outbreak in the village, but they were not taking any chances and had collected blood samples from the village for testing.

“We are suspecting six more cases of hepatitis-A, but the results are yet to come. We have lifted some 100 blood samples and also some water samples to check. The results will come in a few days,” he said.

The CMO said that the majority of the population of the Turk Tachloo village was healthy. “The health team is raising awareness among people about the disease,” he said.

He said that hepatitis-A is mostly caused by contaminated drinking water and they have also informed the public health engineering (PHE) department to check if there is any contamination of the water supplies.

“We have informed the deputy commissioner as well as PHE, who will be checking any contamination as well as for chlorination of water,” he said.