Japanese Encephalitis targets 2 more, toll at 522

Gorakhpur, Dec 8 (UNI) The killer vector-borne menace, Japanese Encephalitis (JE), continued to claim lives of children in eastern Uttar Pradesh with the toll mounting to 522, following two more deaths in the last 24 hours.

Since January, 2,714 JE patients had been admitted at the famous Baba Raghav Das Medical College here and other hospitals of the division, of which 522, including 60 Biharis and four Nepalis, succumbed.

Six fresh cases have been admitted at the medical college, where 56 are still recuperating. Eleven others were convalescing in other district hospitals.

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 distinction of being the JE epicentre in the region. The endemic afflicts eastern UP during monsoon every year. Last year, the killer disease had taken almost 1,000 people under its jaws.

The government 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