25 deaths in 5 weeks, experts clueless on how Chandipura virus spread in Gujarat

In the past five weeks, 25 children have died from the Chandipura virus in Gujarat, a mystery to health experts who have found no trace of the virus in any of the screened carriers. The most common carriers are sandflies found in mud houses and livestock, but tests on thousands of sandflies, mosquitoes, and ticks have all returned negative.

Similar screenings during the 2024 outbreak also failed to find virus carriers. The Gujarat government has confirmed 39 cases, all of them children. The Chandipura Vesiculovirus (CHPV) primarily affects children under 15 and causes sudden high fever that quickly leads to acute encephalitis syndrome with brain swelling and seizures.

This disease was first identified in Chandipura, Maharashtra, in 1965 and sandflies were confirmed as vectors in a 2018 outbreak. Researchers are puzzled as to where the virus is breeding and how it is spreading as no traces of the virus were found in the screening exercises. There are clusters of human cases all over 12 districts in Gujarat and three in Rajasthan, with Patan district having the highest number of cases.

Scientists are also looking into other arthropods such as mosquitoes, ticks, and mites, but no results have been positive so far. They are also conducting animal surveillance to see if the virus is circulating among domestic animals, but no conclusions can be drawn until laboratory investigations are completed.