Sunita Devi Sada, 30, was rushed to a hospital in Biratnagar when she complained of dizziness on July 17. She died the next day. That very day, her aunt, 55-year-old Makhani Devi Sada also died with similar symptoms of dizziness, headache and nausea."About two dozen villagers are showing similar signs. This has created great fear among the locals here. All of the sick patients are females," said a local, Ram Bihari Sada.
Public Health Officer of Saptari, Bijay Kumar Jha played down the disease spread as mere co-incidence rather than an outbreak or epidemic. He said the deaths of two people from a family one after another have led people to lose their psychological balance.
"The psychological trauma is causing them to fall sick," he said.
According to him, Sunita Sada actually died of brain tumor, whereas her sister-in-law passes away due to strokes as she suffered from high blood-pressure and diabetes.
Muhammad Ayub, health-post in charge of Bodevsine, who was sent to study the situation in the Musahar community with his two medical teams, concluded the sudden outbreak was a result of mental trauma.
He further said that an atmosphere of dread led to appetite loss in women. Out of weakness, the women have been falling sick.
Despite the findings of the research conducted by the health office, the villagers have refused to accept that mental trauma alone was behind the problem.
Another local, Jayalal Sada said, "Some say God is angry at us, others think people have come under the grip of fear. We just want an answer."
The villagers are demanding that a team of health specialists must carry out intense research on the outbreak to identify the reason behind the disease that is affecting them.
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