Japanese Encephalitis kills three children; toll at 70

Gorakhpur, Jul 4 (UNI) The deadly vector-borne Japanese Encephalitis (JE) toll mounted to 70, following three deaths of children in the last 24 hours in eastern Uttar Pradesh.

According to sources here today, since January 1 this year, 283 JE patients had been admitted to the Baba Raghav Das Medical College here and several district hospitals in the region, of which 70 succumbed.

Almost 17 patients -- including four fresh cases -- are 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 the state.

Gorakhpur has the dubious distiction of being the JE epicentre in the region. The endemic afflicts eastern part of the state during monsoon every year. Last year, the killer disease had taken almost 1,000 people under its jaws.

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

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