JE toll reaches 167

Gorakhpur, Sep 18 (UNI) The deadly Japanese Encephalitis (JE) has killed many people in eastern Uttar Pradesh taking the toll to 167 with the death of one more child here today.

Joint Director Health Dr Umakant Prasad said the inflow of patients continued unabated at the Baba Raghav Das Medical College.

Since April, a total of 984 people sufferring from JE have been admitted in the medical college, of which 107 are still under treatment.

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

The patients hail from Gorakhpur, Deoria, Maharajganj, Sant Kabirnagar, Kushinagar, Basti, Siddharthnagar, Azamgarh, Gonda and Balrampur districts of UP. Some cases also pertain to the adjoining districts of Bihar, while four people also hail from Nepal.

The endemic afflicts eastern UP during monsoon every year.

Sources said JE affects rural areas in Asia, while transmission can also occur near urban areas in some developing Asian countries.

The disease has a complex life-cycle involving domestic pig and a specific type of mosquito that lives in rural rice growing and pig-farming regions. The mosquito breeds in flooded rice fields, marshes and standing water around planted fields.

The virus can infect humans, domestic animals, birds, snakes and frogs. After infection, the virus invades the central nervous system, including brain.

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