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Children still sickened by mystery illness in Chechnya
A total of 55 people, 53 of them children, have been affected by a mysterious disease at a school in Russiaâs volatile region of Chechnya, the Interfax news agency reported on Wednesday.19 children are currently at the central childrenâs hospital, about 10 in the Shelkovskaya district hospital, and the rest are at home under medical supervision, the agency reported. Doctors are still unable to diagnose the illness, but initial suggestions by specialists from the Emergencies Ministry said it could be nerve-gas poisoning. Doctors from Moscow who traveled to Chechnya to examine the children categorically stated that the patients did not have the symptoms of food poisoning. A team of specialists from the Zashchita emergency medical center left Grozny for the Shelkovskaya district on Wednesday morning. The team is being led by Professor Gennady Prostakishin and includes a toxicologist and a chemistry expert. The experts will take samples at Shelkovskaya, Kobi, Starogladovskaya and other villages where the illness has been recorded for tests. Prostakishin, however, told Interfax that âthere is no confidence that there are any substances to take samples from.â If need be, specialists in other fields will also be dispatched to Grozny, he said. Posted by: Dan Darling 2005-12-21 |
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