At 50, Banoth Goud (name changed) has lived to tell a tale. “I may look normal, but I become breathless when I climb stairs or walk more than five minutes. The doctor says my lungs got affected,” he says.

About three years ago, on a sweltering afternoon, Goud opened his refrigerator, took out a small plastic bottle labelled with a popular juice brand, and took a sip. The drink did not have the sweet, tart apple flavour that he was used to; instead, it tasted flat. He began vomiting.