Mizoram: 9-month-old girl dies from suspected food poisoning by breastfeeding

Aizawl: A one-year-old and nine-month-old toddler (a girl) from Khumtung village in central Mizoram’s Serchhip district died at the Civil Hospital in Aizawl last Friday night, reportedly due to food poisoning after consumption of contaminated fermented soybean on March 9 or 10, state health department officials said on Saturday.

Though it was doubtful that the toddler Lalthansangi consumed the fermented soybean, it is still not clear whether she might have been poisoned through breast-feeding, the officials said.

Lalthansangi’s body was transported to Khumtung village on Saturday, and a funeral was held in the afternoon.

At least 67 people were taken sick after consuming fermented soybean, which they purchased on March 9 and ate on March 9 or 10 at Khumtung village. The fermented soybean was prepared by the Pentecostal Lady Auxiliary Department (LAD) or women wing of the local United Pentecostal Church (Mizoram) and sold as a fund-raising exercise on March 9 to the villagers, especially members of the church.

Of the 67 people taken ill, 45 were referred from Khumtung health sub-center to different hospitals, including the State Referral Hospital at Falkawn village near Aizawl, Trinity Hospital and Research Centre at Saikhamakawn in the southern outskirts of Aizawl, and Civil Hospital in Aizawl.

Officials said that while 22 people have so far been discharged, another 22 are still being treated at the different hospitals until Saturday.

One of the patients, Lalremruati (42), being treated at the State Referral Hospital, has remained unconscious to date, while another patient in the same hospital, Alfred Lalbiaktluanga (12), is also in a critical condition and waiting for surgery, the officials said.

State Health and Family Welfare’s Joint Director of Food and Drug Administration, Lalsawma, said that efforts have been made to ascertain the cause of the toddler’s death, and he will be visiting Khumtung village on Sunday.