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PHIs scour schools for clues to triple deaths
By Apsara Kapukotuwa
Thorough inspections of schools and their surroundings were carried out by public health inspectors in the wake of new scares of another mystery disease, Uva Provincial Health Director, Dr. Shelton Chandrasiri said.

The death of a deputy principal and two students in the area prompted these investigations. However, the deputy principal's death was attributed to a heart attack, the post mortem revealed.

The PHIs' investigations, which centred on whether insecticides, food poisoning or any environmental reason could have caused the deaths, have not revealed any anomaly.

The deaths, within a week, of the deputy principal and two students of Maspenna Bandaranaike Medi Vidyalaya in Uva Paranagama have resulted in the authorities temporarily closing the school and other schools in the area fearing another mysterious outbreak.

Dr. Chandrasiri said the conclusion for the cause of the deaths would be arrived at shortly, once the Colombo Epidemiological Unit conducts its own investigations based on the post mortem reports and samples taken from the dead students. He added that all measures would be taken to re-open the schools on Monday.

The news of this mystery illness comes on the heels of the mystery heart disease that gripped the Badulla area. The cause for the new strain of myorcarditis in Badulla is yet to be identified with investigations still going on in Atlanta, USA where samples were sent by a World Health Organization team that arrived to assist the local epidemiological unit. Though a few suspected patients have trickled in the past two weeks, no positively identified cases have been reported during that time.

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