Death toll in the recent spread of Encephalitis rose to 224 with five more children dying due to the dreaded disease in the last 24 hours. Informing that all the deaths were reported from BRD Medical College in Gorakhpur and among the deceased, two each were from Gorakhpur and Kushinagar whie one was from Sant Kabir Nagar.
Government records suggest that 920 patients of Encephalitis were admitted in Baba Raghav Das Medical College Hospital since January 1 and 224 kids have died so far. “At present, 108 patients suffering from this disease were recuperating in the hospital,” an official said.
The Encephalitis stricken patients admitted to the hospital are from Gorakhpur, Deoria, Gonda, Basti, Sidharthnagar, Sankabrinagar, Kushinagar, Maharajganj, Balrampur, Ghazipur, Azamgarh and also from Nepal and Bihar.
The area is endemic for Japanese Encephalitis but in the past six years, children have been dying of other forms of Viral Encephalitis, the exact cause of which is unclear. Doctors feel that one possibility is a water-borne virus present in contaminated water.
The diseases causes head aches and vomiting and can lead to coma, brain dysfunction, seizure and inflammation of the heart and kidney.
Doctors say children between the age of six months and 15 years are the worst affected and most of the victims are poor people from rural areas.
With the disease assuming endemic propositions and claiming the lives of numeorus children every year, Convener of National Encephalitis Eradication Program (NEEP) Dr RN Singh has written to Prime Minister Narendra Modi urging him to declare Encephalitis Eradication Programme (EEP) as a national programme.
“The need of the hour is to make EEP, a national programme. The issue has been raised more than 20 times in the lok Sabha by Gorakhpur MP Yogi Aditanath," said he.
"A National Program for Prevention and Control of Encephalitis was formulated twice - first in 2011 and then in 2014. But it is unfortunate that it yet to come out of the drawing board,” he wrote in the letter, which was released to the media on Sunday.
Dr Singh said that the disease is 100 per cent preventable but does not have any specific treatment. "Till now the government’s major stress has been on the treatment part only. But what is important is that the government should look after the prevention part too," he suggested.
“Many countries have almost eradicated it where it was a major problem. Some decades back countries like China, Japan and Korea were ravaged by Encephalitis but now they are Encephalitis free. If these countries can do it, we can also do it,” Dr Singh asserted.
The disease is predictable and preventable. The annual monsoons fill parched paddy fields, which bear mosquitoes that spread Japanese Encephalitis from pigs to humans, devastating malnourished children with low immunity.
Another strain of the disease — acute encephalitis syndrome — spreads through contaminated water. Residents defecate in the fields, contaminating the ground water.
The disease killed more than 1,500 children in 2005, the worst recent year, In 2006 a vaccination drive was launched. The government vowed to immunize every child in the worst-affected areas and to launch a massive drive to improve sanitation. For a couple of years, the numbers dropped. In 2006, the disease resulted in the death of 431 children.