RAJOURI: Four people, including three sisters, have been shifted to hospitals from Badhaal village in Jammu and Kashmir's Rajouri district where a mysterious illness has claimed 17 lives over the past one-and-a-half months.

A central team continued its investigation into the cause of the deaths, which took place in three families, on Wednesday. A senior doctor part of the investigations said over 200 samples have been sent for testing to different institutes.

Three sisters, aged between 16 and 22, were shifted to the Government Medical College (GMC), Rajouri from Badhaal after their health suddenly deteriorated on Wednesday. Another critically ill patient, Javid Ahmad (24), was referred to PGI Chandigarh from GMC Rajouri on Tuesday evening, the officials said.

Meanwhile, the inter-ministerial team from New Delhi visited Badhaal in Kotranka sub-division for the third straight day as part of its investigation, the officials said.

The team headed by a director-rank officer in the Ministry of Home Affairs reached Rajouri district headquarters on Sunday evening and was briefed by senior district, health and police officers. It is camping in Rajouri town.

Senior epidemiologist and head of Community Medicines Department, GMC Rajouri, Shuja Qadri said all the investigations so far make it clear that the deaths in the village were not the result of any communicable disease. So, the probe has been narrowed down to the identification of the toxin in food items.

"Based on our epidemiological investigation, as of now, we have reached some probable conclusions, which will be confirmed by lab diagnosis... it is something which is connected with food," Qadri, who is part of the investigations, told PTI.

More than 200 food samples have been sent for screening to various institutes across the country to isolate the neurotoxin. Hopefully, based on the panel of toxins, the laboratories will be in a position to isolate the toxin within a week or 10 days and "we can easily take the control measures to prevent further deaths".

"If you see the sequence of cases, they came over a period of time. That means it is something which is coming intermittently. They are consumed either accidentally or deliberately. That is again a question of investigation," he said.

The 17 deaths in Badhaal, about 55 km from Rajouri town, took place between December 7 and January 19.

The patients complained of fever, pain, nausea, intense sweating and loss of consciousness before dying within days of admission to hospitals.

Earlier, a Jammu and Kashmir government spokesperson said investigations and samples empirically indicated that the incidents were not due to a communicable disease of bacterial or viral origin and that there is no public health angle.

Police have also set up a Special Investigation Team (SIT) after certain neurotoxins were found in the samples of the deceased.

National Conference (NC) leader and local MLA Javaid Iqbal Choudhary said the situation in the village is tough but all necessary measures are in place to deal with it.

"The fresh cases have deepened the mystery and we are hopeful that the investigations by both local and central agencies will reach a conclusion soon," he said.

According to Choudhary, the four new patients were airlifted to hospitals by the Indian Air Force (IAF).

Divisional Commissioner, Jammu, Ramesh Kumar and Additional Director General of Police, Jammu, Anand Jain have also reached Kotranka to review the situation.