One more dies of JE; toll at 30

Gorakhpur, June 16 (UNI) The death toll due to the vector-borne disease Japanese Encephalitis (JE) mounted to 30 today, following the death of one more child in this eastern district of Uttar Pradesh today.

Joint Director Health Dr Umakant Prasad said since January this year, 100 people suffering from JE had been admitted at the famous Baba Raghav Das Medical College of which 30 had succumbed.

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

At least four fresh AES cases were still being treated.

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

Every year, JE kills several hundred people across UP. The endemic disease spreads with the onset of monsoon. Children between the ages of one to 14 years were at greatest risk of infection in endemic areas, outdoors and recreational exposure.

The JE cases were mostly reported in Gorakhpur, Deoria, Maharajganj, Sant Kabirnagar, Kushinagar, Basti, Siddharthnagar, Azamgarh, Ballia, Gonda and Balrampur districts of UP, besides the neighbouring areas of Bihar and Nepal.

Gorakhpur has the dubious distiction of being the JE epicentre in the region. The endemic afflicts eastern UP during monsoon every year.

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.

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

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