Japanese Encephalitis toll at 471

Gorakhpur, Nov 23 (UNI) The vector-borne deadly Japanese Encephalitis (JE) toll in eastern Uttar Pradesh today reached 471, following the death of four more children in the last 24 hours.

Last year, JE had killed almost 1,000 people in UP, while the scourge has already killed several thousand people in the region over the last decade.

Official sources said so far, 2,557 JE patients had reported at the Baba Raghav Das Medical College here and other district hospitals in the division, of which 471, including 55 from Bihar and four from Nepal had died.

Since yesterday, 16 fresh JE cases had come to light. Almost 125 JE patients were still convalescing at various hospitals.

JE patients mostly trickle from Gorakhpur, Maharajganj, Sant Kabirnagar, Deoria, Kushinagar, Basti, Siddharthnagar, Azamgarh, Gonda, Bahraich, Mau, Ballia and Balrampur districts of UP.

Gorakhpur has the dubious distiction of being the JE epicentre in the region.

The endemic afflicts eastern UP during monsoon every year and continues to take people under its jaws till the onset of winters.

UNI