Japanese Encephalitis toll in UP at 339

Gorakhpur, Nov 15 (UNI) Japanese Encephalitis (JE) toll in east Uttar Pradesh reached a staggering figure of 339, following the death of four more children today.

This year, a total of 1,758 children suffering from JE have been admitted to different hospitals in the region, of which 55 -- including 6 fresh cases -- are still under treatment.

Joint director health Dr Umakant Prasad said the inflow of patients was continuing at the Baba Raghav Das Medical College here.

The patients hail from Gorakhpur, Deoria, Maharajganj, Sant Kabirnagar, Kushinagar, Basti, Siddharthnagar, Azamgarh, Gonda and Balrampur district of UP, besides the adjoining places of Bihar and the Himalayan kingdom of Nepal.

The 339 dead so far include 45 patients from Bihar.

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.

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