The Japanese Encephalitis epidemic continues to cause deaths in the state of Uttar Pradesh. The embarrassed health officials are tight-lipped about the toll in a Japanese encephalitis epidemic; the Uttar Pradesh government and yesterday admitted the dreaded disease had claimed 591 lives.
As many as 415 people, about 80 percent of them children, have died in Gorakhpur, the town with the best medical facilities in eastern Uttar Pradesh, where the killer virus had taken a virulent form. IANS news sources said the disease had affected 22 districts in the state, five districts of eastern Uttar Pradesh - mostly along the India-Nepal border - were the worst hit.Medindia on Japanese encephalitis:
Japanese encephalitis is a viral disease spread by mosquitoes. It is associated with inflammation of the brain and hence termed encephalitis. This severe and potentially life-threatening disease is rare. The illness occurs in two forms — a primary form and a secondary form. The primary form of the disease is more serious, while the secondary form is more common.
