At least five fresh cases of Japanese Encephalitis (JE) have been reported in Jharkhand in the past four days, officials from the State Vector Borne Disease Control Programme (SVBDCP) said on Saturday, adding that the cases of Dengue and Chikungunya too were on the rise in Jharkhand.

East Singhbhumhas has witnessed the worst JE outbreak this year. Out of the total 25 cases of JE in the state, 12 were reported from East Singhbhum, SVBDCP officials said. On the other hand, at least 11 cases of Dengue were reported in Ranchi this year so far, which is the highest among all the districts in Jharkhand. Out of the 16 Chikungunya cases reported so far in the state, at least seven were from Ranchi.

“East Singhbhum is worst hit by Japanese Encephalitis this year. While aggressive awareness and larvae destruction campaigns are running in the State capital, it still has witnessed maximum cases of Dengue and Chikungunya this year so far,” said Dr. Vijay Nath Khanna, In-Charge of SVBDCP,

The SVBDCP has so far tested 457 samples for JE and 25 of them were positive. Out of the 507 samples for Dengue tested, 37 were positive. Meanwhile, as many as 497 samples were tested for Chikungunya and 16 of them were positive. 

Khanna said that the State has been holding awareness campaigns in all the 24 districts to put a check on vector borne diseases. The District Administrations have also been inspecting households to find and destroy mosquito larvae in different colonies. During the inspection, many households were also slapped fine for storing dirty water and breeding mosquito larvae, district officials said.

In June, the State Health Department issued an advisory to all the health officials and civil surgeons asking them not to take any case of JE lightly. The State health machinery swung into action after a case of JE was reported in Dumka on June 19. The new case rang the alarm bells for the State as Bihar was battling a major Encephalitis outbreak at that time.

“Vector borne diseases usually spread faster during the Monsoon season, so we are taking all possible steps to prevent and check the spreading of infections,” said Khanna.

Earlier this year, Jharkhand witnessed an all time high number of Swine Flu cases. At least 57 cases were reported this year, which is 14 times more than the number of cases reported in 2018.