Nine GBS cases reported in Pune tally goes up to 110 water stool blood sample testing underway

Pune, Jan 27 (PTI) Pune on Monday reported nine suspected cases of Guillain-Barre Syndrome (GBS), an immunological nerve disorder, taking the tally in Maharashtra's second largest city to 110, officials said.
These comprise 73 men and 37 women, with 13 patients being on ventilator support, a health official said.
"A total of 35068 houses have been surveyed so far, including 23017 houses under Pune Municipal Corporation, 4441 houses under Chinchwad Municipal Corporation, and 7610 houses in rural Pune. We have sent 44 stool samples to NIV Pune. All were tested for enteric virus panels. Of these, 14 samples are positive for Noro virus and five stool samples have returned positive for campylobacter," he said.
The official said 59 blood samples were sent to NIV, and all have tested negative for Zika, Dengue, Chikungunya.
"As many as 34 water samples from different parts of the city have been sent for chemical and biological analysis to the Public Health Laboratory. Of these, seven samples reported water contamination," the official added.
An appeal has been made to private medical practitioners to notify any GBS patient to the respective public health authorities, he said.
GBS is a rare condition that causes sudden numbness and muscle weakness, with symptoms including severe weakness in the limbs, loose motions etc. Bacterial and viral infections generally lead to GBS as they weaken the immunity of patients, as per doctors.

(This story has not been edited by THE WEEK and is auto-generated from PTI)