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India’s got a new headache, and this one’s a real nerve-wrecker – literally.
At least five people have died in Maharashtra from suspected cases of Guillain-Barré Syndrome (GBS), a rare neurological disease that turns the body’s immune system against its own nerves, causing paralysis. Because, you know, life wasn’t already challenging enough.
The outbreak has mostly hit Pune, a buzzing IT hub about 180km from Mumbai, with cases climbing to a concerning 163. Of those, 21 are on ventilators, and 48 are in intensive care—so, definitely not just a mild inconvenience.
GBS is basically your body betraying you at the worst possible moment. It starts off sneaky—just a little tingling and numbness in your hands and feet—before escalating to full-on muscle weakness and, in severe cases, respiratory failure. The good news is that most people recover. The bad news is it’s a long, gruelling process, and some never fully shake off the effects.
About 90 per cent of the suspected cases were in the 0-59 age group, while the highest number of cases were reported in the age group of 20-29, according to The Hindu.
The outbreak in Pune city is traced to a pathogen called campylobacter jejuni, which has been the biggest driver of GBS worldwide, the BBC reported.
State health minister Prakash Abitkar said the outbreak was most likely due to contaminated water sources. An investigation revealed the presence of E coli bacteria in one of the samples obtained from private borewells in an area with a high number of cases.
Health officials are now urging residents to boil their drinking water and avoid dodgy street food, particularly uncooked meat and stale food—even though the threat of sudden paralysis should kill any of those cravings.
“Auto-immune diseases are not communicable, they cannot spread from one patient to another. But the causative infection usually spreads,” Avinash Bhondwe, the former president of the Indian Medical Association, Maharashtra, told Reuters.
Over in Assam, a 17-year-old girl died of suspected GBS last week, though the state hasn’t given any updates on its own outbreak situation.
The World Health Organisation has stepped in, working with Pune’s authorities to trace cases and figure out how to contain the mess. While there’s no outright cure for GBS, treatments like plasma exchange to remove antibodies from the blood or intravenous immunoglobulin, as well as immunotherapy can help speed up recovery.
But for now, residents are left hoping their next sip of water won’t be their body’s worst betrayal yet.
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