Japanese Encephalitis toll at 34

Gorakhpur, Aug 2 (UNI) The Japanese Encephalitis toll in Uttar Pradesh today reached a staggering figure of 34 following the death of one more patient in the last 24 hrs.

Joint director health D P Mishra said here the inflow of JE patients continued at the local Baba Raghav Das Medical College.

A total of 262 people -- including four fresh cases -- sufferring from JE have been admitted since April at the medical college, where 60 are still under treatment.

The patients belong to Gorakhpur, Deoria, Maharajganj, Sant Kabirnagar, Kushinagar, Basti, Siddharthnagar, Azamgarh, Gonda and Balrampur district of UP. Some cases also pertain to the adjoining districts of Bihar.

Gorakhpur has the dubious distinction of being the JE epicentre in the region. The endemic afflicts eastern UP during monsoon every year.

The government had undertaken a massive vaccination drive against the vector-borne disease. However, the efficacy of the drive has come under cloud with the mounting toll.

Last year, JE had claimed over 1,000 lives in UP.

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