Acute hepatomyoencephalopathy (HME) syndrome is the name given to a multi-system disease affecting the liver, muscle and brain which is now known to be caused by phytotoxins.

In many districts of western Uttar Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Odisha and Haryana, India, outbreaks of an acute "encephalopathy" syndrome, dubbed as a "mysterious disease", have been an annual feature for many years.

The disease affected rural young children during the winter months of September to December, with fatality rates around 75-80%.

Treatment is mainly symptomatic, may require intensive care management but the outcome is uniformly poor and unpredictable if a full-blown picture of acute HME has appeared.

A six-member panel led by virologist Dr Jacob John from Vellore's Christian Medical College & Hospital was constituted by the Odisha state government to investigate into the death of approximately 100 children in Malkangiri district that occurred since September 2015.