Japanese Encephalitis targets 2 more, toll at 528

Gorakhpur, Dec 11 (UNI) The killer vector-borne menace, Japanese Encephalitis (JE), continued to claim lives of children in eastern Uttar Pradesh with the toll mounting to 528, following two more deaths in the last 24 hours.

Since January, 2,732 JE patients had been admitted at the famous Baba Raghav Das Medical College here and other hospitals of the division, of which 528, including 61 Biharis and four Nepalis, succumbed.

Nine fresh cases have been admitted at the medical college,where 53 are still recuperating. Thirteen others were convalescing in other district hospitals.

The JE patients trickle from Gorakhpur, Deoria, Maharajganj, Sant Kabirnagar, Kushinagar, Ballia, Gonda, Bahraich, Mau, Basti, Siddharthnagar, Azamgarh, Gonda 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. Last year, the killer disease had taken almost 1,000 people under its jaws.

The government undertakes a massive vaccination drive against the vector-borne disease every year, however, the efficacy and penetration of the drive has come under cloud with the mounting toll.

UNI