In all 35 people have died and now the authorities in Siliguri say it is due to a mutated form of measles. When 10 staffers died in a local hospital it was supposed to be encephalitis or a new form of malaria. In short the authorities have sent samples for testing to the us but are still groping in the dark in India.

Unfortunately mystery diseases are not new. Emergent disease episodes have increased. Nearly all have involved zoonotic or species-jumping infectious agents. Emergence of these new pathogens seems to be accelerating for several reasons. But to a great extent are responsible the ecological and environmental changes wrought about by human activity. Contributing to the spread of these mystery diseases is the capacity of microorganisms to adapt to extremely diverse econiches.

The classic example is the emergence of yellow fever when humans moved in to the Central American jungle to build the Panama Canal. The Brazilian woodcutters who cleared the Amazonian forests were attacked by the Mayaro and Oropouche virus infections. Cities in the tropics with their lack of sanitary facilities are hotspots for infections. Even global warming