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The village of Turakapalem, located five to six kilometres from Guntur city of Andhra Pradesh, has grabbed headlines recently. Around 29 people in the settlement have died because of melioidosis, a bacterial infection caused by Burkholderia pseudomallei. The government has now declared a public health emergency in the area.
Turakapalem has been visited by doctors from the community medicine wing of AIIMS, Mangalagiri. It also deployed a team of doctors from the Guntur Government General Hospital (GGH) with specialists from five departments — physicians, psychiatrists, biochemistry, pathology and social preventive medicine experts.
Korra Vijaya Laskhmi, district medical and health officer (DMHO) of Guntur district, told Down To Earth (DTE) that the team held a house-to-house survey to identify symptomatic patients and tested them.
“There are five suspected and two confirmed cases of Melioidosis in the GGH currently. With a health emergency declared, we will continue to provide food and water until the test results are out for villagers. Soil and water tests are being done. Ten teams collected blood samples for 41 types of tests. If detected early, melioidosis is not fatal. Three patients identified by a private doctor have recovered already.”
Care was taken and those with diabetes, low immunity, kidney and lung problems and long-term health issues were tested, she said.
The village residents suspect consumption of rainwater which has collected in an abandoned quarry 100 feet away from the village is the root cause of this situation.
The residents complain that while potable water is being denied to them, the water mafia is digging deep borewells to supply 30 tankers to Guntur city.
They add that the panchayat borewell dug until 250 feet doesn’t give them enough potable water. Meanwhile, private borewells dug deeper than 600-700 feet supply to households in Guntur, five to six kilometres away.
Sarpanch (chief) of the village D Surya Prakash Rao, however, pooh-poohed the suggestion. He said the water from the quarry was supplied after using micro filters. “People in the village buy and consume filter water. This water from the quarry was given for consumption by animals and for bathing. Drawal of water from borewells has now been stopped, after villagers’ opposition.”
Residents told DTE that their family members, who lived normal lives, were found dead in a matter of a few days.
“My mother Panta Vijayamma (55) did not have any health problems except swollen legs. So, she used pain killers. She died in just two days after complaining of fever. We initially showed her to a local registered medical practitioner. After that, she was admitted in a private hospital where we were told that her kidneys had been severely damaged. Then, we shifted her to the government hospital where she complained of breathlessness in the night. The final report said she died of cardiac arrest. We did not have any clue about her kidney problem earlier. All of this happened in just a span of two days. Maximum deaths happened in our Dalit colony,” said Panta Vijaya Ram Rao, son of Vijayamma, a resident of the village.
He added that his mother died on June 25, 2025. “There have been 50 deaths in the village since January. The 29 deaths being accepted are from the last two months,” said Vijaya Ram Rao, adding five of the dead were tee-totallers. In spite of this, the local member of Legislative Assembly blamed alcoholism for the deaths.
Attempts to know the veracity of Rao’s claim that around 50 had died from January did not yield satisfactory answers from officials.
On the other hand, some residents are also worried about the declaration of the public health emergency in the village.
Among them is Korrapati Vinod Kumar. He told DTE that as someone who ekes out a living as a carpenter, he has been denied work by owners for a week now.
A statement by the DMHO informed that of the seven suspected to be affected by melioidosis, six remain admitted in the GGH while one patient is being treated at Kanumuri hospital in Guntur.
Residents have sought compensation for families of the dead. They aver that many of the dead are survived by just five to six-year-old children.
Andhra health minister Satya Kumar, who visited the village, promised action against officials for possible dereliction of duty as recommended by a team headed by IAS officer, Attada Siri. The measure was taken after allegations arose of negligence in bringing the news of deaths to the notice of higher officials.
A team from the NCDC (National Centre for Disease Control) toured Turakapalem on September 9 and took stock of how blood samples were being collected and tested. The team expressed satisfaction on the functioning of medical equipment and results from the testing centres. They directed the district medical health officer to study the pattern in the test results and ensure that the people don’t face any problems henceforth.