Ahmedabad | The death of a four-year-old girl in Gujarat was caused by the Chandipura virus, a health department official said on Wednesday citing a Pune-based virology institute's report, making it the first such fatality in the state, where 13 other patients are also suspected to have succumbed to the infection.

So far, 29 suspected cases of the Chandipura virus, whose patients show flu-like symptoms, have been reported in Gujarat, the state health department said.

"Of them, 14 patients have died. Their swab samples were sent to the Pune-based National Institute of Virology (NIV) for testing and confirmation of the Chandipura virus," the department said in a statement.

"The sample of a four-year-old girl from Aravalli district's Mota Kanthariya village, who died at the civil hospital at Himatnagar in Sabarkantha district, has tested positive for the Chandipura virus. This was the first death due to the Chandipura virus infection in the state," Sabarkantha Chief District Health Officer (CDHO) Raj Sutariya said.

The samples of three other patients, who were also treated at the civil hospital in Sabarkantha district, that were sent to the NIV have tested negative for the infection, he said.

Suspected cases of Chandipura virus have been reported from Sabarkantha, Aravalli, Mahisagar, Kheda, Mehsana, Rajkot, Surendranagar, Ahmedabad, Gandhinagar, Panchmahal, Jamnagar, and Morbi districts, said the department.

Two suspected Chandipura virus patients from Rajasthan (Udaipur district) and one from Madhya Pradesh (Dhar district) have also been treated in the state's hospitals, it said.

Four suspected cases of the infection each have been reported from Sabarkantha and Aravalli, and three from Morbi, among other districts.

Health screening of more than 51,000 people has been conducted across 26 residential zones in the affected areas as a precautionary measure, the department said.

The Chandipura virus causes fever, with symptoms similar to flu, and acute encephalitis (inflammation of the brain). The pathogen is a member of the Vesiculovirus genus of the family Rhabdoviridae. It is transmitted by vectors like mosquitoes, ticks and sandflies.

The 2003-2004 outbreaks of the disease in central India witnessed case fatality rates ranging from 56 per cent to 75 per cent in Andhra Pradesh and Gujarat with typical encephalitic symptoms.