Japanese Encephalitis toll mounts to 308

Gorakhpur, Sep 30 (UNI) The vector-borne deadly Japanese Encephalitis (JE) toll in eastern Uttar Pradesh reached 308 with the death of five more children in the last 24 hrs.

The deceased comprised two of Sant Kabirnagar district and one each of Gorakhpur, Kushinagar and Maharajganj districts.

Official sources said so far, 1,639 JE patients had reported at the Baba Raghav Das Medical College here and other district hospitals in the division, of which 308, including two of Nepal and 32 of Bihar, died.

Today, 22 new JE patients were admitted here, while 14 were discharged after improvement in their health. However, as many as 179 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.

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

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