Japanese Encephalitis toll reaches 124 in UP

Gorakhpur, Sep 1 (UNI) The deadly Japanese Encephalitis (JE) toll in Uttar Pradesh has reached 124 with the death of one more child today.

Last year, the JE had killed over 1,000 people, mostly children, in UP.

According to information received from the Joint Director (Health) office, the inflow of JE patients was continuing at the famous Baba Raghav Das Medical College here.

Since April, a total of 753 people, suffering from the JE, have been admitted to the Medical College in which 124 have died.

The patients hail from Gorakhpur, Deoria, Maharajganj, Sant Kabirnagar, Kushinagar, Basti, Siddharthnagar, Azamgarh, Gonda and Balrampur distrticts of UP.

At least 96 cases pertain to the adjoining districts of Bihar while three patients hail from Nepal.

In the last 24 hrs, as many as 17 people have been rushed to the hospital, while 118 patients are still undergoing treatment there.

The epidemic afflicts Eastern UP during the monsoon every year.

Meanwhile, medical teams from Delhi and Pune have arrived in Gorakhpur to ascertain the JE virus strain, which is responsible for the deaths despite a comprehensive vaccination programme in UP earlier this year.

UNI ATI HS KP2003