Gujarat, India: 7 healthy people ‘die suddenly’ in one day
Seven healthy people including two children died suddenly from cardiac arrest over a 24-hour period this month in Gujarat, India.
On Friday, October 20th, 13-year-old Vaibhav Soni died of suspected heart failure after falling off his bike. His X-rays and other tests came back normal.
The same day a man named Jagdish Pawar was sitting on his rickshaw when he died suddenly due to a suspected cardiac arrest.
That night 28-year-old man Ravi Pinchal collapsed while dancing garba — a Gujarati dance — at a club on the outskirts of Ahmedabad and was pronounced dead on arrival at the hospital.
“Ravi was the sole breadwinner and never showed any signs of heart trouble,” Pinchal’s younger brother Jayesh told the TImes of India.
Seventeen-year-old Veer Shah was at a garba festival in Kapadvanj when he also suddenly collapsed. His friends initially thought he had fainted from dehydration, but he could not be revived.
Fifty-five-year-old Shankar Rana was also at a garba event in Vadodara when he complained of “uneasiness” and collapsed from a heart attack. He was pronounced dead at the hospital.
On Saturday, 55-year-old Savaisinh Sodha was preparing to start his day as a staffer at the central jail when he suddenly collapsed and died later in the hospital.
That day 44-year-old real estate agent Jayesh Jalavadia also died suddenly at his home.
India has been experiencing an unfortunate spate of cardiac arrests which have been grabbing headlines. In July, for example, a newlywed couple in Uttar Pradesh’s Bahraich district died in their sleep on their wedding night. According to Times of India, police said the postmortem examination showed the cause of death as cardiac arrest with no evidence of foul play.
As to what caused the cardiac arrest, police speculated it may have been poor air circulation.
But India is not the only country seeing an increase in sudden cardiac events. Countries like Australia and the United Kingdom are also grappling with alarming spikes in heart issues like cardiac arrest and arrhythmia, accompanied by soaring excess deaths.
The phenomenon is being referred to as Sudden Adult Death Syndrome (SADS). The British Heart Foundation defines SADS as “when someone dies suddenly and unexpectedly from a cardiac arrest, but the cause of the cardiac arrest can’t be found.”
“Healthy young people are dying suddenly and unexpectedly from a mysterious syndrome - as doctors seek answers through a new national register,” wrote the Daily Mail.
