Mislabeling outbreaks overlooks the absence of basic facilities in rural areas and risks increasing fear and resistance to modern medicine.
Seventeen people in Kachchh, who developed fever and respiratory distress towards the end of August 2024, died in quick succession between September 3 and 9, prompting authorities to rush teams to the affected area – villages Bekhada, Sanhrovand, Medhivandh and Morgar in Lakhpat taluka, and Bharavandh and Valavari in Abdasa taluka.
“Door-to-door visits to every household helped to identify others who were sick, and they were all started on symptomatic treatment,” Jayesh Katira, deputy director, epidemic in Gujarat’s health department, told IndiaSpend.
But the authorities struggled to name the disease, prompting the media to report the outbreak as a “mystery” disease
“We must steer clear of labelling any diseases as ‘mysterious’ or too complicated to explain to the public,” Jayaprakash Muliyil, epidemiologist and consultant, Department of GI Sciences, Christian Medical College, Vellore, told IndiaSpend. “There is always a cause of disease, and India has sufficient trained epidemiologists to identify diseases.”
apses in public health communication stood out quite starkly during the Covid-19 pandemic, the lessons behind those lapses have yet to be fully assimilated in the public health response to disease outbreaks, said Abhay Shukla, national co-convenor, People’s Health Movement.
Citing the 5 Ts of public health communication – Transparency, Trust, Timeliness, Truthfulness and Two-way exchange – Shukla explained that in about 10% of outbreaks, the cause may initially not be clear at local level and remains so for some time. But even then, “whatever is known should be conveyed to the people”.
by Charu Bahri, IndiaSpend.com
16/05/2025