Kendrapara: A 12-year-old boy died Saturday morning while four of his family members were undergoing treatment with complaints of nausea and breathing difficulties after having curries and watermelon the night before in Odisha’s Kendrapara district, police said.
The chief district medical officer (CDMO), Sachidananda Mishra, said the curries the family had for dinner might have been stale.
He said all five were admitted to the community health centre at Pattamundai Saturday morning with complaints of vomiting, loose motion and breathing difficulties, which they claimed started after having food the previous night.
As their condition worsened, they were shifted to the district headquarters hospital in Kendrapara.
Among them, Swadhin Senapati’s (12) condition worsened, and he was rushed to the Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel Post Graduate Institute of Paediatrics in Cuttack, where he died during treatment, Mishra said.
The four other family members are undergoing treatment at the district headquarters hospital, and their condition is stable, officials said.
“It appears to be a case of food poisoning. Rectal swabs of all the patients have been collected and will be sent to a laboratory in Cuttack to ascertain the exact cause of the illness. It is not confirmed whether watermelon consumption led to the family members falling sick,” the CDMO said.
Police and health authorities have launched an inquiry into the incident.
PTI