Massive vaccination drive against JE in UP

Sitapur, Jan 23 (UNI) To prevent deadly Japanese Encephalitis (JE) from playing havoc in future, a massive vaccination drive would be undertaken in Uttar Pradesh in May this year befor the onset of monsoon.

Union Health Ministry programme manager Dr P K Dhalaria today said 22 districts in the country, including eight from UP, have been selected, in which children below five yrs would be vaccined.

''The massive vaccination drive against the fatal disease would definitely reduce the number of JE cases in UP,'' Mr Dalaria added.

This year, over 500 people were killed and almost 3,000 were affected by the vector-borne disease in UP.

The JE patients mostly belonged to Gorakhpur, Maharajganj, Sant Kabirnagar, Deoria, Kushinagar, Basti, Siddharthnagar, Azamgarh, Gonda and Balrampur districts.

The endemic afflicts eastern UP during monsoons every year.

UNI