Japanese Encephalitis toll mounts to 40 in UP

Gorakhpur, Aug 4 (UNI) The Japanese Encephalitis (JE) toll in eastern Uttar Pradesh today reached a staggering figure of 40, following five more deaths today.

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

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

Sources claimed over 70 lakh children had been vaccinated this year so far, mostly with Chinese vials.

Last year, JE had claimed more than 1,000 lives in UP alone.

Since April this year, a total of 284 people -- including 11 fresh cases -- sufferring from JE have been admitted at the medical college, of which 57 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 distiction of being the JE epicentre in the region. The endemic afflicts eastern UP during monsoon every year.

Of the 40 casualties this year, seven victims hailed from Bihar, while the rest belonged to the different UP districts.

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