23 under jaws of Acute Encephalitis Syndrome

Gorakhpur, May 19 (UNI) The Acute Encephalitis Syndrome has claimed 23 lives in eastern Uttar Pradesh in the last four months.

Joint Director Health Dr Umakant Prasad said here, since January, 73 patients had been admitted to the Baba Raghav Das Medical College, of which 23 people died.

Till now, we were suspecting it to be the case of Japanese Encephalitis but the blood tests revealed they died of Acute Encephalitis Syndrome, Dr Prasad added.

The patients belonged to Gorakhpur, Maharajganj, Deoria, Kushinagar, Basti, Siddharthnagar and Sant Kabir Nagar districts of east UP. Some of the cases also pertained to Bihar and neighbouring country of Nepal.

Gorakhpur has the dubious distiction of being the JE epicentre in the region. The endemic afflicts eastern UP during monsoon and kills almost 1,000 people every year.

UNI