JE claims 284 lives in UP

Gorakhpur, Oct 28 (UNI) The fatal Japanese Encephalitis (JE) toll in Uttar Pradesh has reached a staggering figure of 284 with the death of two children today.

Till now, at least 1,540 people, mostly children, sufferring from JE have been admitted to the medical college, of which 284 have died.

Joint director health Dr Umakant Prasad said here the inflow of patients was continuing at the famous Baba Raghav Das Medical College, which has become the epicentre of the killer disease. As many as 72 patients including 10 fresh cases are undergoing treatment in hospital.

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

It is one of a group of mosquito-borne virus diseases that can affect the central nervous system causing severe complications and even death.

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