Japanese Encephalitis death count reaches 158

Gorakhpur, Aug 20 (UNI) The vector-borne Japanese Encephalitis (JE) toll in East Uttar Pradesh today climbed to 158 with the death of one child in this district today.

Sources said this year, so far 850 JE patients were admitted to the Baba Raghav Das Medical College and Gorakhpur district hospital, of which 158, including 16 people hailing from Bihar and two Nepali, succumbed.

In the last 48 hours, 17 new cases have come to light, while 140 patients are still receiving treatment.

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

UNI JAS ARB1816