JE claims 389 lives in UP

Gorakhpur, Dec 13 (UNI) The endemic Japanese Encephalitis (JE) toll in Eastern Uttar Pradesh has mounted to 389, following the death of two children during the last 24 hours.

Joint director health Umakant Prasad said almost 1,921 JE patients had been admitted at the Baba Raghav Das Medical College and other hospitals since April this year.

As many as 19 patients, including 3 fresh cases, are still under treatment at the Medical College and district hospital.

The JE patients hailed from Gorakhpur, Maharajganj, Sant Kabirnagar, Deoria, Kushinagar, Basti, Siddharthnagar, Azamgarh, Gonda and Balrampur districts of UP.

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.

According to experts -- JE, a mosquito-borne flaviviral infection, is a leading cause of childhood encephalitis in Asia, where up to 50,000 cases are reported annually. Most infections are asymptomatic, but when encephaltis develops, the case-fatality rate can be as high as 30 per cent.

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