(Around 63 children have died in the last five days in Gorakhpur (UP) district’s BRD Medical Hospital. Reports allege that the probable causes of deaths were low supply of oxygen and in some cases, encephalitis syndrome. The Quint is republishing this article from 26 August 2016 on the deadly Japanese encephalitis and why it requires the government’s immediate attention.)
Panic gripped Manipur in July 2016, when a four-year-old girl – after suffering high fever, convulsions, and slipping in and out of consciousness over a few days –succumbed to Japanese encephalitis (JE), the state’s first death from the viral brain infection transmitted by the Culex mosquito since 2010. A few days later, the virus claimed its second victim, an adult.
These deaths were enough to close schools until the end of July in the district of Churachandpur and spark a reaction in the parliament a fortnight ago, as MPs asked what India had to show despite years of efforts to contain JE, caused by a virus that is a cousin of those that cause dengue and yellow fever, all impervious to medicine.