Hyderabad: All India Institutes of Medical Sciences Doctors have found of lead and nickel is present in the blood of the people who contacted the mystery disease at Eluru in Andhra Pradesh. 556 cases have been reported till Tuesday, 458 were discharged and only 98 patients are still in hospital undergoing tests.  More than 45 children below the age of 12 were among the patients. All complained of convulsions, nausea and fainting. One person, a 45-year-old, died on December 5.

Doctors have been trying to diagnose the illness, which struck parts of the town last week amid the Covid-19 outbreak. A battery of teams from various medical organisations and hospitals are working to detect the cause. As per the sources of CM office on Tuesday said preliminary findings indicated the presence of lead and nickel in blood which could have caused the symptoms. “More tests are being conducted by Indian Institute of Chemical Technology and other institutes and the results are expected soon,” the Chief Minister’s Office release said.

Chief Minister Jagan Mohan Reddy has told the authorities to “inquire on how lead and nickel particles could have got into the bodies of the people of that region and asked to conduct a detailed study and submit a report”. Jagan has also asked the public health personnel and other departments to “probe the issue deeply and find out the reasons for the illness,” the statement read.

Governor Biswa Bhusan Harichandan’s advise to take the help of Central institutes, teams were flown in from Delhi’s AIIMS, the National Institute of Nutrition, the Indian Institute of Chemical Technology (IICT) and the Centre for Cellular and Molecular Biology.