SALEM: As many as four persons including two girls who are sisters have died of rat flu and three others were admitted to hospital for treatment at 'Kollimalai' hills in Namakkal district.
Three weeks ago, a few families, who were employed as farm workers at tea estates in Kerala and Karnataka had returned to their native 'Keeraikaadu' at 'Kundaninaadu' panchayat in Kollimalai hills following bouts of fever. They got admitted in Semmedu government hospital in Kollimalai and Senthamangalam private hospital for treatment.
Unfortunately, Suganya, 16 and her sister Meena, 20, both daughters of Senthil Kumar and Susila from Keeraikaadu died without responding to treatment. The flu also claimed the lives of two others identified as Sivakumar and Ponnammal.
The health department staff, who visited the village to administer polio drops, found three others Vasantha, 25, Neelamani, 26, and Raj, 52, suffering from persistent fever. Immediately, blood samples were taken and sent for test at Namakkal government hospital, which revealed that they were also affected by rat flu. All the three persons were then admitted in a special ward at the government hospital in Kollimalai.
Ramesh Kumar, deputy director of Health department, said that the flu might have transmitted to people from Kollimalai, while they go to work in estates of Karnataka and Kerala. There are also chances for the flu to have spread, when these labourers took food items contaminated with rat feces unknowingly.
Medical camps have been put up at the village to monitor and treat affected villagers.
