Japanese Encephalitis toll at 310

Gorakhpur, Oct 1 (UNI) The vector-borne Japanese Encephalitis (JE) toll in Eastern Uttar Pradesh today reached a staggering figure of 310, owing to the death of two more children today.

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

Sources said this year so far, 1,654 JE patients had come to the Baba Raghav Das Medical College and Gorakhpur district hospital, of which 310, including 32 of Bihar and two of Nepal, succumbed.

In the last 24 hrs, 15 new cases had come to light, while 171 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.

UNI JAS SV HT1930