NEW DELHI, Sept 12, (Xinhua): A mysterious fever outbreak in the western Indian state of Gujarat has killed 16 people, officials said Thursday. The outbreak has been reported in several villages of Kachchh district, about 380 km west of Gandhinagar, the capital city of Gujarat.

Doctors have yet to diagnose the disease accurately. Health officials said cases of mysterious fever began to pour in immediately after the region was hit by flooding following heavy rainfall.

"So far 16 deaths have been reported in seven villages of Lakhpat and Abdasa of Kutch after the outbreak of fever," local health minister Rushikesh Patel said. "The health department of the entire state is in action to ascertain the reasons behind the disease."

Locals told the media the patients who died from the mysterious disease had symptoms like fever, cold, cough, pneumonia, and breathing issues. Health officials said since the beginning of this month over 60 cases of mysterious fever have been detected.

Amit Arora, district collector of Kachchh, was quoted in local media saying the deaths appear to have been caused by pneumonia. "It does not appear to be from contamination nor does it seem like a communicable disease," Arora said. "Samples are being collected for testing against dengue, malaria, H1N1 swine flu, and pneumonia.

Teams from the health department are keeping a close watch on this," he said. Officials have sent 11 samples of the deceased to Pune's National Institute of Virology to determine the cause. "The results are expected to arrive in a day or two," Arora said. This season the Kutch district received the highest rainfall in Gujarat, recording about 890 mm of rain, or 184 percent of the average until Sept. 10. Enditem