Japanese Encephalitis toll mounts to 207

Gorakhpur, Sep 4 (UNI) The vector-borne Japanese Encephalitis (JE) toll in East Uttar Pradesh today reached a staggering figure of 207, owing to the death of four more children today.

The scourge has killed several thousands people in the region over the last decade.

According to sources, the fresh deaths comprised one each in Gorakhpur, Siddharthnagar, Kushinagar and Deoaria.

Sources said this year so far, 1120 JE patients had come to the Baba Raghav Das Medical College and Gorakhpur district hospital, of which 207, including two of Nepal and 16 of Bihar, succumbed.

In the last 24 hrs, 21 new cases had come to light, while 171 JE patients were still in remission.

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.

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