4 min readJaipurUpdated: Apr 9, 2026 11:18 AM IST
A series of deaths, due to suspected viral encephalitis, in Rajasthan’s Salumbar district has sparked an intensive survey by the Health Department and district officials in the affected villages as well as the region.
Over the past few days, five children have died under ‘mysterious’ circumstances in Salumbar’s Ghata and Lalpura villages under Lasadiya block. These include brothers Deepak (4) and Laxman (3), as well as Seema (4) from Lalpura, and Rahul (4) and Kajal (2) of Ghata.
Salumbar District Collector Muhammad Junaid told The Indian Express that the deceased children had common symptoms, including vomiting, unconsciousness and altered sensorium. “These point to some kind of encephalitis. In the opinion of the team from Udaipur Medical College, it is a suspected case of viral encephalitis. One suspicion is that it could be a variant, ‘Chandipura’ virus, although the final word is awaited from the National Institute of Virology (NIV), Pune, where the samples have been sent.”
Nanuram, uncle of Deepak and Laxman, said that Deepak’s health deteriorated on the night of March 31 and the family took him to a Community Health Centre in Dhariyawad which referred him to Pratapgarh. From Pratapgarh, Deepak was referred to Udaipur but he died on April 1 while he was being taken to Udaipur. In the case of Laxman, his health deteriorated on April 5 when he started vomiting and had high fever and the family took him to Dhariyawad and then Udaipur where he died. Like the others, Seema was also taken to Dhariyawad but she too died. Kajal’s father Prakash Meena said that she had high fever and started vomiting on April 5 and as they rushed her from one hospital to another, she died by evening.
Rahul’s father Laxman said that he too had high fever and started vomiting on the morning of April 5 and the family took him to Dhariyawad and then Udaipur where he died.
Officials said that as the villages are distant from urban centres, some families also approached “unauthorised practitioners”, which may have worsened the odds of survival. With the exact cause of the deaths yet to be confirmed, the deaths have led to panic in the region. Officials said to prevent further deaths and assuage fears among the families, the Salumbar district administration has been conducting an intensive monitoring and survey of the villages, which had reported the deaths, over the last three days.
Hundreds of teams have combed through Ghata Gram Panchayat which has three revenue villages — Ghata (2,504 persons/ 408 families), Lalpura (169 persons/ 29 families) and Karnagarh (667 persons/ 124 families) for total 561 families. Six schools, with 659 students, and three Anganwadis, with 144 children, have also been covered by the teams which have collected various samples. Of the 561 families, 528 families have been surveyed, with 9 blood samples being collected on Wednesday, anti-larval activity being conducted at 51 places, and 20 samples being sent for analysis.
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The Medical and Health Department has been conducting extensive outbreak control activities in all seven districts of the Udaipur division, which includes Salumbar. According to the Department, as many as 6,167 teams have surveyed over 1,20,961 households in the Udaipur division, identifying 1,470 symptomatic patients. As many as 924 patients were treated on the spot and 85 patients were referred to higher medical institutions. Information, Education, and Communication (IEC) activities have also been conducted at over 13,000 locations during this period, while anti-larval activities have been carried out at 5,532 locations to effectively prevent mosquito-borne diseases.
