3 more under the jaws of JE

Gorakhpur, Sep 12 (UNI) The haunting Japanese Encephalitis (JE) toll in Uttar Pradesh today reached a staggering figure of 151, following the death of three children.

So far, at least 909 people, mostly children, sufferring from JE have been admitted at the medical college, of which 151 have died.

Joint director of health Dr Umakant Prasad said, the inflow of patients was continuing at the famous Baba Raghav Das Medical College.As many as 111 patients including 14 fresh cases are undergoing treatment in hospitals.

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

Gorakhpur has the dubious distiction 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 and penetration of the drive has come under cloud with the mounting toll.

Sources said JE is a disease, which is spread to humans' by infected mosquitoes. It is one of a group of mosquito-borne virus diseases that can affect the central nervous system causing severe complications and even death. Symptoms usually appears six-eight days after the bite of an infected mosquito.

It usually starts as a flu-like illness, with fever, chills, exhaustion, headache, nausea and vomiting, while confusion and agitation can also occur in the early stage.The disease can progress into serious infection of the brain. Among the survivors, 30 per cent would have serious brain damage including paralysis.

Japanese Encephalitis is the leading cause of viral encephalitis in Asia, where 30,000 to 50,000 cases are reported each year.

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