Fighting Japanese encephalitis must be a priority
The death toll of more than 80 people due to the deadly virus Japanese encephalitis in Odisha’s Malkangiri district is indeed shocking. Since most of the victims are reported to be children, a serious question looming large over the Odisha Government is whether the children received proper vaccination or not. If only adequate immunisation measures would have been in place, many lost lives would have been saved. Experts in the field feel that many cases often go unreported and undetected. It has, therefore, been an uphill task for the Government to have accurate statistics of victims. High-level political dignitaries, from both the Centre and the State, have visited the affected areas to take stock of the situation. But, to understand the gravity of the problem, what is required is an immediate action plan to prevent the epidemic. At a time when cases of dengue, chikungunya and H1N1 have seen a rise across the country, the Japanese encephalitis virus is an added pressure on the public healthcare system in poor States like Odisha.
The deadly disease originates from pigs and spreads to humans, mostly children, through mosquitoes. It is a severe disease with case fatalities ranging from 20 per cent to 30 per cent. Although no treatment is available so far, Japanese encephalitis is highly vaccine preventable. Since 2010, cases and deaths due to this disease have more than doubled across the country. Alongwith Odisha, the North-eastern States have also been susceptible to this mosquito-borne disease. Yes, it is a major public health crisis, but one must not panic as the National Vector Borne Disease Control Programme (NVBDCP) is already in place. The programme provides the States enough tools to prevent and control this virus. Under NVBDCP, the State Governments have been advised that in the endemic districts, anticipatory arrangements should be made for medicines, equipment and accessories to handle the crisis. The most important aspect of prevention lies in making trained medical, nursing and paramedics available. Though the Japanese encephalitis vaccine is manufactured in India, but it is in limited quantity. Also, the vaccine can be procured by the State Governments directly. Given this, the Government of Odisha should have made vaccines available before time. It must be noted that the vaccine cannot be used to control any epidemic kind of a situation because it takes at least one month after the second dose to develop antibodies so as to protect a person from the disease. The basic cause of death for most of the victims in Malkangiri was lack of nutrition. Most tribal children, who did not have immunity, fell prey to the virus. Even doctors and virologists have not been able to tackle the growing menance that has killed more than 57 children so far within a period of just two months. Immediate attention and care must be provided to the patients.