JE kills 29 in UP

Gorakhpur, June 14 (UNI) The deadly vector-borne disease Japanese Encephalitis (JE) has so far claimed 29 lives in this eastern district of Uttar Pradesh.

Joint director health Dr Umakant Prasad said since January this year, 96 people suffering from JE had been admitted at the Baba Raghav Das Medical College here, of which 29 had so far succumbed.

Dr Prasad further informed that apart from JE, another deadly ailment Accute Encephalitis Syndrome (AES) has also claimed several lives this year.

At least five fresh AES cases are still under treatment.

Some patients are also recuperating at the Gorakhpur district and other hospitals.

Every year, JE kills several hundred people across UP. The endemic spreads its tentacles with the onset of monsoon. It attacks mostly children between the ages of one to 14 years.

The JE cases are mostly reported in Gorakhpur, Deoria, Maharajganj, Sant Kabirnagar, Kushinagar, Basti, Siddharthnagar, Azamgarh, Gonda and Balrampur district of UP, besides the neighbouring areas of Bihar and Nepal. Gorakhpur has the dubious distiction of being the JE epicentre in the region.

JE eradication project convenor Dr R N Singh claimed aerial spray of pesticide could put a tab on the spread of the disease.

JE is a mosquito-borne arboviral disease which effects the central nervous system and causes severe complications and even death. It is a disease of rural, semi-urban and agricultural areas.

Transmitted by female mosquitoes of genera culex, anopheles, aedes, mansonia and armegeres mosquitoes.

Recently, Allahabad High Court had directed the central as well as Uttar Pradesh government to prepare themselves to fight the menace of Viral Encephalitis (VE) and JE.

The HC had stated this year, if the toll climbs to that of 2005, Secretary, Medical Health and Family Welfare, Government of India and Secretary, Medical and Health, government of Uttar Pradesh will be held responsible.

UNI