Arunachal sounds high alert after encephalitis death

Itanagar, July 26: Arunachal Pradesh has sounded a high alert following the death of a 10-year-old girl and reports of 11 other persons being affected by Japanese Encephalitis in the state.

Kiran Raji, a 10-year-old girl of Sippi village in Upper Subansiri district, who was admitted to Arunachal State Hospital here died on Thursday, state Epidemiologist Dr L Jampa told PTI today. The other affected persons include children in the age group of 1 to 14 years besides an 18-year-old teenager, he said in a statement.

They were undergoing treatment at the Arunachal State Hospital since last week, while two cases being treated in Guwahati Medical College Hospital in Assam were reportedly improving, he said. Anticipating similar cases associated with convulsions, seizures, rigidity and also loss of consciousness, the state health department has geared up its surveillance mechanism besides initiating testing facility at the ASH.

Delhi-based National Vector Borne Disease Control Programme (NVBDCP)'s central division has been requested to provide sufficient JE-virus testing kits to the state urgently and the RMRS- ICMR at Dibrugarh has been requested to assist in the laboratory testing and confirmation of the JE-infection, Dr Jampa said. Four cases have been tested positive for the JE virus in ASH laboratory of which one had also been confirmed as positive JEV by RMRC, Dibrugarh, the statement said.

PTI