Japanese Encephalitis toll mounts to 117

Gorakhpur, Aug 4 (UNI) With the death of six more children overnight, death toll due to the vector-borne deadly Japanese Encephalitis (JE) has reached 117.

According to official sources today, two persons succumbed at both Deoaria and Kushinagar, while one death was reported each from Gorakhpur and Sant Kabirnagar districts.

From January 1 this year, total 573 JE patients had come to the Baba Raghav Das Medical College here, of which 117 -- including 14 from Bihar and two from neighbouring country Nepal -- had died.

In the last 24 hrs, 32 people were admitted to hospital. Almost 116 JE patients were still convalescing.

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 distinction 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.

Last year, the deadly JE had killed over 1,000 people in UP, while the scourge has already killed several thousands of people in the region over the last decade.

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