Bajura, March 19

An unknown malady is said to have killed two infants and taken ill over 150 locals in Bajura’s Swamikartik Rural Municipality, in the past three days.

According to local teacher Janesh Bhandari of Swamikartik Rural Municipality, two four to five months old infants died due to an unidentified high fever-related illness, first seen here four days ago.

“While Bharbale BK’s five-month-old daughter Dambakala BK died due to high fever in Muktikot, Ward Number 1 on Tuesday, a four-month-old baby, son of Cature Thapa, died in Pudeni, Ward Number-2, yesterday,” Bhandari said.

Janak Bahadur Rokaya, chairperson of Ward No 1, Swamikartik Rural Municipality said the malady had so far taken more than 150 persons ill in Muktikot, Ward No 1; and Pudeni, Supena and Fayalgaun in Ward No 2.

Meanwhile, as the disease-affected areas are far from the centre of the local body and the district headquarters, the same has posed difficulty in the treatment of patients. Though there is a community unit health centre in Ward No 2, the health facility is short of medicines and this has added to the difficulty.

“Most of those taken ill have complained of symptoms such as fever, headache, cough and pain in the limbs,” said the ward chair, adding that his office was sending an assistant health worker to the affected area very soon.

On his part, District Public Health Office Bajura Chief Dayakrishna Panta also informed about the office’s plan to dispatch a team of health workers with medicine to the disease-affected areas for treatment and also the identification of the disease.