Pune adds one more case of Guillain-Barré Syndrome; Sassoon hospital reports drop in new admissions

Pune: The state health department on Thursday added one more case to the Pune Guillain-Barré Syndrome cluster, taking the total number of people affected since Jan 5 to 212.

The toll, after the two deaths on Wednesday, stood at 11. The two who succumbed were a 26-year-old resident of Nanded City township and a 37-year-old man from Daund town admitted to a hospital in the city. The man passed away on Monday while the woman succumbed to complications on Tuesday.

On Thursday, health department data showed that 152 of the 212 patients have been discharged so far. But 32 are still in ICUs; 16 on ventilator support.

Doctors said there has been a substantial drop in new admissions.

Dr Rohidas Borse, head of the internal medicine department at Sassoon General Hospital, where last week there were seven patients in intensive care, said the govt unit had one GBS admission on Wednesday.

"But the patient was from Jalgaon, and not linked to the Pune cluster. We now have only two people on ventilator support. Those in the ICU are also stable and recovering. Oxygen requirement in the hospital has dipped too," he said.

Relatives of the 26-year-old woman, who succumbed on Tuesday, said she was first admitted to a private hospital on Jan 22 but was later moved to another unit as they could no longer afford the bills there.

"Within two days, her hospital bill crossed Rs 3 lakh," said the victim's uncle, Deepak Sharma. "We couldn't continue her treatment at that hospital so we moved her to Navale hospital where she was immediately placed on ventilator support."

According to a preliminary report prepared by Navale hospital, and submitted to the state health department, the woman had complained of diarrhoea on Jan 15, but had recovered without any medication. But on Jan 22, she found herself extremely weak and unable to even lift a cup of tea. By evening of the day, the weakness had spread to her lower limbs.

Dr Nanda Dhavale, medical superintendent of Navale hospital said: "She was admitted here on Jan 25, in critical condition. She had already been diagnosed with GBS and given three shots of intravenous immunoglobulin. We tried everything, but she succumbed on Feb 18, at 3.54pm."

Dr Dhavale, citing doctors who treated the woman, said she had an axonal variant of GBS, which affects critical nerves. "This is more difficult to treat. A patient may require prolonged ventilator support, which may also put them at risk of infection because they are continuously breathing through artificial systems. This patient was on ventilator for nearly 25 days," Dr Dhavale said.

The preliminary cause of death listed septicemic shock with multi-organ dysfunction syndrome and fulminant Guillain-Barré Syndrome.

"My niece had come to Pune from Baramati for her higher education. She was a bright student and we had high hopes for her. She's now gone, at such a young age," said Sharma, her uncle.