BHUBANESWAR: Even as the Odisha Government was praised by the Centre for taking required steps to contain Japanese Encephalitis (JE), the deadly vector-borne disease continues to haunt the State claiming six lives in Malkangiri district in the last 24 hours.
Sources said the children succumbed to the disease while undergoing treatment in the district headquarters hospital (DHH). While 80 children have died of the disease in 54 days so far, the Health and Family Welfare Department put the toll at 74, including 27 JE cases till Monday.
Officials said of 74 cases, 47 children have succumbed to Acute Encephalitis Syndrome (AES) which has assumed epidemic proportion. As many as 108 villages in six blocks of the district and the municipality are under the grip of the disease which refuses to relent despite all possible measures by the district administration.
Admitting that the situation is grim, Officer on Special Duty (OSD) Nruparaj Sahu, who was deputed to the district after the outbreak, said a team of experts will visit the affected areas in the weekend. The team will study the causes of outbreak and suggest measures.
‘’In the last two days, the district reported six deaths of which two were JE cases. The surveillance has been strengthened. All fever cases are being referred to the DHH. The number of patients affected in JE has come down. Now, only one patient is admitted in the ICU,’’ he said.
So far,130 patients have been cured and discharged from the hospital. Of the collected 196 serum samples, 63 have been found JE positive while of 171 pig serum samples, 91 were found positive for JE.
Meanwhile, the Health Department has decided to go for further laboratory tests for identification of other encephalitis causing viruses following the recommendation of the Central team which visited Malkangiri last month.
The Regional Medical Research Centre (RMRC), Bhubaneswar and National Institute of Virology (NIV), Pune will also be informed to preserve the serum samples and conduct tests for other virus identifications.
Officials concerned have also been instructed to take steps for purchase of one fogging machine for each gram panchayat. The machines would be utilised for fogging in villages on a weekly basis to reduce mosquito density. As per the recommendation, Malathion will be used for fogging instead of cyphenathrine.
The Centre has agreed to start vaccination from first week of December for JE in Malkangiri, Mayurbhanj, Jajpur and Keonjhar districts for which a training programme will start from Wednesday.