Japanese Encephalitis toll near 200

Gorakhpur, Sep 2 (UNI) The vector-borne Japanese Encephalitis (JE) toll in East Uttar Pradesh today reached 199, with the death of five more children today.

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

According to sources, the fresh deaths comprised one each in Gorakhpur, Ballia, Basti, Siddharthnagar and Deoaria.

Sources said this year so far, 1088 JE patients had come to the Baba Raghav Das Medical College and Gorakhpur district hospital, of which 199 succumbed.

In the last 24 hours, 33 new cases had come to light, while 179 JE patients were still in remmision.

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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