All You Need To Know About Chandipura Virus

Increasing surveillance can be crucial and help in the early detection and treatment of the Chandipura virus that has so far claimed the lives of six children and affected about 12 in Gujarat, said doctors on Tuesday.

According to Gujarat Health Minister Rushikesh Patel, the virus is suspected to have caused the death of six children in the past five days, while the number of cases has risen to 12 -- from Gujarat (9), Rajasthan (2) and Madhya Pradesh (1).

All patients received treatment in Gujarat, said Patel, adding that all 12 samples have been sent to the National Institute of Virology (NIV), Pune for verification.

What is the Chandipura virus?

Chandipura virus is a type of arbovirus that is a member of the vesicular virus genus of the Rhabdoviridae family. It is transmitted primarily through phlebotomine sandflies and sometimes through ticks and mosquitoes.

Children are more prone to getting infected with this virus, health experts said.

"Chandipura virus is an emerging pathogen that has garnered significant attention in recent years due to its potential to cause severe and often fatal illnesses in humans, particularly in children," Dr Neha Rastogi Panda, Consultant, Infectious Disease, Fortis Memorial Research Institute, Gurugram, told IANS.

First identified in India in 1965, the virus is named after the Chandipura village in Maharashtra where it was initially isolated.

"Its symptoms include sudden onset of high-grade fever, diarrhoea, vomiting, seizures, altered sensorium which can ultimately lead to death within 24 to 72 hours of the onset of the symptoms," Dr. Shreya Dubey, Consultant - Neonatology and Paediatric, CK Birla Hospital, Gurugram, told IANS.

The virus's epidemiology is not fully understood, but outbreaks have been reported mainly in India, with sporadic cases in other regions.

"It poses a significant public health challenge due to its rapid transmission and the high mortality rate associated with infections," said Dr Panda.

Early detection key

Currently, there are no specific antiviral treatments or vaccines against the Chandipura virus.

The disease course is rapidly progressive and has a high case fatality rate, said the experts, calling for early detection and treatment.

"The clinical presentation of Chandipura virus infection can be severe and sudden. Symptoms typically begin with high fever, headaches, vomiting, and altered mental status, quickly progressing to seizures and encephalitis," Dr Panda said.

"As soon as someone notices any symptoms, they should visit the emergency or seek medical attention as early as possible," added Dr Dubey.

Public health strategies

Insecticide sprays can help eliminate the vector, said the experts, while also calling for efforts to prevent the spread of the virus by controlling sandfly populations.

"Public health strategies include the use of insect repellents, bed nets, and insecticides, as well as raising awareness about the risks and symptoms of the disease," said Dr Panda.

She also stressed the need for increasing research to better understand the virus's transmission dynamics.

"It will also help develop effective treatments and create vaccines. Increased surveillance and reporting can help in early detection and containment of outbreaks, ultimately reducing the impact of this deadly virus on affected populations," the doctor said.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)

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8 Killed In Rain-Related Incidents In Uttar Pradesh In Last 2 Days

Eight people died in rain-related incidents in Uttar Pradesh in the last two days, the state relief commissioner's office said on Monday.

Among the victims, five drowned in Agra, Kanpur, Bahraich, Chitrakoot and Ghazipur. One in each area -- Hathras, Ghazipur and Shravasti -- died due to boat capsizing, snake bite and other rain-related incidents, it said.

These deaths were reported in the past 24 hours till 6 pm Monday.

The report said that 17 districts of the state are affected by the rains. These districts include - Lakhimpur Kheri, Balrampur, Kushinagar, Shahjahanpur, Ballia, Siddharth Nagar, Barabanki, Sitapur, Gorakhpur, Bareilly, Hardoi, Ayodhya, Bahraich, Budaun, Farrukhabad, Deoria and Unnao, it said.

The rivers flowing above the danger mark are Rapti River in Gorakhpur and Bansi, Kuono River in Gonda, Ghaghra River in Ballia and Ramganga in Shahjahanpur, it added.

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CUET-UG Retest For Over 1000 Candidates On July 19: National Testing Agency

The National Testing Agency (NTA) has decided to conduct a retest for over 1000 candidates of CUET UG on July 19.

The NTA had on July 7 released the provisional answer key of Common University Entrance Test (CUET)-UG 2024 and announced that it will conduct a retest for CUET UG candidates between July 15 and 19 if any grievance raised by students about the conduct of the exam is found to be correct.

While the agency notified the retest schedule on Sunday, it remained silent on the declaration of the result which has already been delayed by over two weeks with the final answer key not yet notified.

The delay in CUET-UG results comes amid a raging row over alleged irregularities in competitive exams, including NEET and NET.

According to NTA sources, the distribution of question papers in language not opted by the candidates is one of the reasons for the retest and the 1000-odd candidates are spread across six states.

"Some of the grievances include time loss due to distribution of wrong question paper," a source said.

A total of 250 candidates of the 1,000 CUET-UG aspirants for whom the NTA is conducting the retest are from Oasis Public School in Hazaribagh, which is also under scanner for the alleged leak of NEET-UG question paper.

According to the official notification issued on Sunday, the grievances received from candidates up to June 30, 2024, regarding the CUET (UG) 2024 exam as well as the complaints sent to rescuetug@nta.ac.in between July 7-9 (before 05:00 P.M.) have been reviewed.

"Based on these grievances, a re-examination will be conducted for those affected candidates on July 19, 2024, in the Computer-Based Test (CBT) mode," the notification said.

Distribution of the wrong question paper also happened during the NEET-UG exam conducted on May 5, due to which NTA granted grace marks due to loss of time.

However, the agency, following protests and litigation in the Supreme Court, cancelled the grace marks and announced an optional retest for the 1,563 candidates of which 813 attended the exam on June 23.

Originally, results for the undergraduate admission test were scheduled to be released on June 30 but the NTA delayed the results as it grappled with paper leak allegations involving NEET-UG, UGC-NET, and CSIR-UGC-NET.

"Initially it was decided that the results would be announced for the rest of the candidates before the retest and subsequently for the rest. However, we are now yet to take a final call on the same," a source said.

The CUET-UG exam conducted in a hybrid mode for the first time across the country was cancelled in Delhi a night before the scheduled exam day, citing logistical reasons. The exam was conducted in the national capital later.

The NTA had earlier announced that the third edition of CUET-UG will be completed in seven days and there will be no normalisation of scores as all exams will be conducted in a single shift.

For 15 subjects, the tests were in pen-paper mode and for the other 48 subjects, the exam was held in computer-based mode.

Over 13.4 lakh candidates registered for the common entrance test for admission to undergraduate courses in 261 central, state, deemed and private universities this year.

In the first edition of the exam in 2022, the test was plagued by technical glitches. Also, as a result of tests for a subject being conducted over multiple shifts, the scores had to be normalised during the announcement of results.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)

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Union Minister's Big Illegal Phone Tapping Charge Against Ashok Gehlot

The BJP on Sunday attacked former chief minister Ashok Gehlot after an audio clip of a conversation purportedly between him and his ex-OSD surfaced online, with Union Minister Gajendra Singh Shekhawat accusing Mr Gehlot of resorting to illegal phone tapping to save his government.

Mr Gehlot's then officer on special duty (OSD) Lokesh Sharma had played the call recording between him and Mr Gehlot at a presser in April, claiming that the clips of alleged telephone conversation between Mr Shekhawat and some Congress leaders on "toppling" the state's Congress government in 2020 was given to him in a pen drive by the former CM.

Sharma is an accused in a case related to the illegal phone tapping registered by Mr Shekhawat in Delhi.

The call recording purportedly between Mr Gehlot and Sharma recently surfaced on social media.

Reacting to this, Mr Shekhawat said, "The former chief minister had resorted to phone tapping in order to save his government. He recorded the phone conversation and saved it in a pen drive to make it public." He said that this entire conversation is now in public domain and people know everything.

State Education Minister Madan Dilawar also launched a scathing attack on Mr Gehlot over the issue.

"Now it has become clear to everyone how Ashok Gehlot used to conspire. The revelations about phone tapping are gradually coming to light. As a result, Gehlot is scared of the ruling party. This is why he is not attending the assembly," said Mr Dilawar.

Mr Dilawar was on a day's visit to Jodhpur as the minister in-charge of the district and held a meeting with the officials with regard to implementation of budget announcements.

He said that phone tapping is a crime. But when Ashok Gehlot was the chief minister, he tapped the phone of former deputy CM Sachin Pilot, the state minister added.

"Now his (Gehlot's) own people are exposing it. The people of Rajasthan now understand to what extent Gehlot has betrayed them," he said.

After the Lok Sabha elections in Rajasthan were over in two phases in April this year, Lokesh Sharma had held a press conference in Jaipur to claim that Gehlot had given him some call recordings in a pen drive to circulate to the media.

The audio clips were allegedly related to the political crisis that erupted after Mr Pilot along with 18 other MLAs had revolted against Mr Gehlot's leadership.

In 2020, three call recordings were circulated by Sharma to the media. It was alleged that clips contained telephonic conversations between Shekhawat and Congress leaders to topple the Gehlot government. Sharma at that time had claimed that he got the clips through social media.

Mr Shekhawat had registered a case in Delhi against Sharma in March 2021 on charges of criminal conspiracy, criminal breach of trust and unlawfully intercepting telephonic conversations.

Sharma approached the Delhi High Court to quash the FIR. In June 2021, the high court granted an interim stay on coercive action against Sharma. Sharma said in April that he would give the evidence (to prove that call recordings were given to him by Gehlot) to the investigating agency.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)

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Man Kills Wife, 2 Daughters, Tries To Pass Off Murders As Road Accident

A 32-year-old man in Telangana's Khammam district was arrested for allegedly killing his wife and two daughters and passing off their deaths as a road accident, the police said on Sunday.

The accused, a physiotherapist at a Hyderabad hospital, was having an affair with a nurse, the police said, adding that he resorted to the murders to continue his relationship with his colleague.

He had earlier had a quarrel with his wife over the matter, the police added.

On May 28, the accused took his wife and two children in a car in Raghunadhapalem mandal in the district and initially killed his 26-year-old wife with a high-dose anesthesia drug, according to the police.

Later, he allegedly smothered his four- and two-and-a-half-year-old daughters to death, a senior police official said.

As part of the man's plan to make the murders look like a road accident, he lay his wife's body on the rear seat of the car, put his children in the front, and rammed the vehicle into a tree, the police said.

However, based on the autopsy and technical evidence, the police arrested him and he confessed to the crime during the investigation, the senior police official said.

The accused has been charged with murder and causing the disappearance of evidence.

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Jailed Maoist Leader Likely To Enroll For PhD As Bengal Government Steps In

Maoist leader Arnab Dam, who topped the PhD admission test at West Bengal's Burdwan University, will likely be enrolled soon after the state government intervened to address certain administrative issues that thwarted his admission.

Mr Dam, an accused in cases of multiple attacks and killings, was being shifted from the correctional home in Hooghly district to Bardhaman and security will be provided for his visit to the university campus in the town, said Akhil Giri, Correctional Administration Minister.

“We have decided to shift him from the Hooghly to the Burdwan Correctional Home,” the minister said.

Mr Dam is serving a life sentence for his role in the 2010 attack on an Eastern Frontier Rifles camp in Jhargram district's Sildah.

Trinamool Congress leader Kunal Ghosh supported Mr Dam's demand to be allowed to be enrolled for PhD in the university while clarifying his trial as per law in criminal cases should continue.

“We are against the politics of killing. We are not calling for the release of Arnab. But if someone wants to pursue a journey in higher education despite being lodged in jail, isn't that a silver lining in society?” Mr Ghosh said in a post in Bengali on X.

The former Rajya Sabha MP was responding to the anguish expressed by the mother of a Maoist violence victim for the initiative to facilitate Mr Dam's enrollment as a researcher at the University.

Mr Dam, who was earlier lodged in a correctional home in Hooghly district, had secured over 75% in the PhD admission test in History which was held at the campus on June 26 under strict security.

While the University started the process of admission of PhD researchers in other streams, the same for History was delayed in the last few days.

Interim Vice Chancellor Goutam Chandra said on Saturday: "We wish to get Arnab admitted to our University as a PhD scholar as he stood first in the admission test. But we have to follow certain UGC guidelines. We had sent a mail to the Correctional Home authorities. Once we get their positive nod, we will enroll him as a PhD scholar," he explained.

Mr Dam, allegedly a close associate of Maoist leader Kishanji who was killed in an encounter in 2011, is accused in several attack and murder cases in the Jangal Mahal belt of south Bengal till 2010. He was arrested in 2012.

He had qualified in undergraduate and post-graduate exams while sitting at the correctional home.

The Hooghly correctional home authorities had in the last week of June sent a letter to the university informing that an inmate wanted to appear for PhD admission test and after confirmation from the university, security measures were taken to escort him to the campus, enable write the papers and return to his cell on June 26.

He cleared undergraduate and post-graduate exams from the correctional home.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)

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Heavy Rain Hits Kerala, Orange Alert Issued For 3 Districts: Weather Office

As heavy rains lashed several parts of Kerala, the India Meteorological Department on Saturday issued an orange alert in three northern districts of the state for the day.

The IMD issued an orange alert in Kozhikode, Kannur and Kasaragod and a yellow alert in nine other districts of the state for the day.

The weather department also predicted thunderstorms with moderate rainfall and gusty winds at one or two places in Pathanamthitta, Alappuzha, Kottayam, Idukki, and Ernakulam districts for the day.

It further issued an orange alert in Malappuram, Kozhikode, Kannur and Kasaragod districts of the state from June 14 to June 16.

An orange alert means very heavy rain of 11 cm to 20 cm and a yellow alert means heavy rainfall between 6 cm and 11 cm.

The IMD said that Kerala will receive fairly widespread rainfall accompanied by thunderstorms, lightning and gusty winds during the next five days due to the influence of the cyclonic circulation over north Gujarat and another over west central Bay of Bengal.

In view of the weather alert, the Kerala State Disaster Management Authority (KSDMA) cautioned people against standing or parking vehicles under trees, saying they could get uprooted or their branches may break and fall down due to strong winds.

Those living in thatched, sheeted or unsecured houses should move to safer buildings in accordance with directions of the authorities.

Meanwhile, the IMD advised fishermen against venturing into sea in Kerala, Karnataka and Lakshadweep coastal areas from June 13 to June 17 due to the possibility of bad weather and strong winds.

The Indian National Center for Ocean Information Services (INCOIS) too said that there is a possibility of high waves and storm surges along the Kerala and Tamil Nadu coasts till Sunday.

Therefore, fishermen should be careful while going to sea for fishing, it said.

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