Japanese Encephalitis death count crosses 400

Gorakhpur, Nov 1 (UNI) The vector-borne Japanese Encephalitis (JE) toll today touched a staggering figure of 409 after the death of six more children in East Uttar Pradesh.

The scourge has already claimed the lives of thousands of people in the region over the last decade.

Last year, the deadly JE had killed almost 1,000 people in UP alone.

Official Sources said so far, 2,2237 JE patients had come to the Baba Raghav Das Medical College and other hospitals here, of which 409, including 38 of Bihar and two of neighbouring country Nepal, had died.

Eighteen fresh cases have come to light today, while 150 patients were still receiving treatment in hospitals.

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 epidemic afflicts eastern UP during monsoon every year and continues to take people under its jaws till the onset of winters.

UNI JAS AE HT1930