Japanese Encephalitis toll at 154

Gorakhpur, Aug 18 (UNI) The vector-borne Japanese Encephalitis (JE) toll in East Uttar Pradesh today reached a staggering figure of 154, owing to the death of nine more children today.

The scourge has killed several thousands people in the region over the last decade.

Sources said this year so far, 820 JE patients had come to the Baba Raghav Das Medical College and Gorakhpur district hospital, of which 154, including 16 Bihari and two Nepali, succumbed.

In the last 48 hours, 42 new cases had come to light, while 162 JE patients were still in remission.

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 distiction 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.

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