Chandoriya village in Madhya Pradesh’s Raisen district is down with chicken pox. Over the past 10 days, the virus has spread through the dalit-dominated hamlet situated about 120km north of the state capital.
The district administration on Sunday rushed a medical team to Chandoriya. The situation went out of control as villagers had more faith in quacks than the government hospital and health centres. They believed the disease came as the blessing of a goddess.
Every house in the village, with a population of about a thousand, has someone infected with the disease. Villagers claimed that at least 450 people including 60 children were affected by the disease. Sub-divisional magistrate Buta Singh Ebena, though, said that the situation was under control.