Japanese Encephalitis toll nearing 500

Gorakhpur, Nov 27 (UNI) Even as the Japanese Encephalitis issue echoed in Parliament today, the vector-borne deadly disease claimed the lives of four persons here in the last 24 hours, taking the toll to 484 so far.

Last year, JE had killed almost 1,000 people in UP, while the scourage has accounted for several thousands of lives in the eastern Uttar Pradesh region over the last decade.

Official sources said so far, 2,609 JE patients had been reported at the Baba Raghav Das Medical College here and other district hospitals in the division, of which 484, including 58 from Bihar and four from Nepal had died.

Since yesterday, eight fresh JE cases had come to light, while 125 JE patients were still convalescing at the various hospitals.

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

Gorakhpur has the dubious distriction of being the JE epicentre in the region.

The endemic afflicts eastern UP during monsoon every year and continues to take people under its jaws till the onset of winters.

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

UNI