Sunsari, August 19

At least four children died of viral haemorrhagic fever in course of treatment in the past two weeks at the Dharan-based BP Koirala Institute of Health Sciences in Sunsari.

The deceased were aged between six and 14 years. They were suffering from high fever, vomiting, stomach-ache, among others, said Dr Prakash Poudel,

who was involved in their treatment. “The patients were admitted for high fever and they started vomiting blood before we diagnosed the problem. They died within an hour or two,” said Dr Poudel.

“The virus of viral haemorrhagic fever is similar to that of scrub typhus, dengue and hantavirus. This disease has been detected in Nepal for the first time,” said Dr Poudel.  The children were admitted to  the emergency ward of the health institute on July 30, August 8, August 15 and August 17.

The deceased have been identified as Raju Karki of Itahari Sub-metropolitan City -10, Priti Kumari Chaudhary of Kanchanpur Rural Municipality of Sunsari, Prashant Rai of Thokshila Rural Municipality and Bikalpa Rai of Dharan Sub-metropolitan City -17, of Sunsari.

According to Spokesperson for the institute Narayan Bhattarai, the health facility in coordination with World Health Organisation is preparing to send teams of health workers to disease-affected areas.