Japanese Encephalitis toll at 445

Gorakhpur, Nov 17 (UNI) The Japanese Encephalitis (JE) toll today reached 445, following two more deaths in eastern Uttar Pradesh during the last 24 hours.

Since January, 2,477 JE patients had been admitted at the Baba Raghav Das Medical College here and other hospitals of the division, of which 445, including 54 people from Biharis and four from Nepal, succumbed.

Over 120 patients including 11 fresh cases are still in remission.

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

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

Last year, the killer disease had taken almost 1,000 people under its jaws.

The government had undertakes a massive vaccination drive against the vector-borne disease every year, however, the efficacy and penetration of the drive comes under cloud with the mounting toll.

UNI