HYDERABAD, Oct 10: The director general of Health Services Sindh, Dr Hadi Bux Jatoi, on Wednesday dispelled the impression that the widely reported mysterious disease, which spread in Sangrasi village near Hala over past few days, was some contagious disease and said that the disease was caused by spray of pesticides in the fields.

Speaking at news conference at his office, Mr Jatoi claimed that the disease, however, had been brought under control. A total of 119 patients were brought to different hospitals from Sangrasi village from Oct 6 to 10, after which he visited the area with a team of doctors, he said.

Initial investigations suggested that people had fallen ill due to spray of pesticides in the fields but to be 100 per cent certain blood samples of some patients had been sent to Aga Khan University Karachi and Islamabad for chemical analysis, he said.

He categorically denied its being a contagious disease and urged the agriculture department to take stock of the situation and ensure that the vegetables sprayed with pesticides were not brought to the market immediately.

Over 100 people in the Hala area of Matiari district contracted a mysterious disease last week with local doctors failing to diagnose the disease. Goth Mohammad Ali Sangrasi is the worst hit by the disease.

The symptoms of the disease are vomiting, severe headache, dizziness and epileptic fits.

About dengue virus, Dr Jatoi said that it had surfaced in some parts of Karachi but the rest of Sindh till date, was safe. Nevertheless, he said, the district governments had already taken precautionary measures against the spread of the virus.

The three people who had fallen prey to the deadly virus in Umerkot and Hyderabad last year had in fact caught the virus in Karachi and brought it to the interior of Sindh, he said adding 537 patients of dengue virus were admitted to different hospitals in Karachi, of whom seven had died.

To a question about hepatitis, Dr Jatoi said that 75 cases of delta virus had been reported but none had died and 1,750,000 cases of hepatitis-C and 1,500,000 cases of hepatitis-B had been reported throughout the province.

Qambar-Shahdadkot district was the worse affected where 16 per cent of the total population was suffering from hepatitis-B and C, he said. Delta virus had also been detected in the same district, he said.

He blamed quacks for the spread of diseases and said that 60,000 quacks were practicing in the province and no action could be taken against them in the absence of a relevant law.

He stressed the need for legislation against quackery and said that the quacks’ injecting dozens of persons with the same syringe and substandard implements used by the so-called dentists as well as barbers were also responsible for the spread of hepatitis.

He said that under the Prime Minister’s programme, Sindh health department was providing free kits, injections and medicines to hepatitis-B and C patients but their supply was not steady.