The Jammu and Kashmir government has reported an unexplained illness in Budhal village, Rajouri district, that has claimed 15 lives since December 2024. One child remains critically ill at a Jammu hospital. The first case emerged on December 7, 2024, when a family of seven fell ill after a community meal, resulting in five deaths. Similar incidents occurred on December 12 and January 12, affecting two families and causing three deaths and six hospitalizations.
The government immediately deployed a medical team to collect food and water samples. In addition, they also established mobile medical units and rapid action teams and conducted medical camps and door-to-door screenings. The collected samples were tested by various reputed labs, including the National Institute of Virology (Pune) and the Microbiology Department of PGIMER (Chandigarh). However, all samples were negative for…
