28 Children Fall Ill After Consuming Anti-Filaria Medicine In Amethi Primary School

Amethi: Twenty-eight children fell ill at a government primary school at Udwa in Amethi after having medication intended to treat filariasis, a disease caused by a chronic mosquito-borne parasitic infection.

According to Chief Medical Officer Dr Anshuman Singh, the school children were given anti-filaria and deworming tablets by Health workers, which may have caused illness and side-effects such as fever, joint pain and facial swelling.

Health workers were alerted after some children developed fever while others complained of pain in their knees.

The indisposed children were admitted to the Community Health Centre in Fursatganj, informed Girish Kumar, principal of the primary school.

They were given the medicines as part of an ongoing campaign to eradicate filariasis, Kumar said.

The condition of the children was stable, Dr Singh said.