GUWAHATI: After floods, Assam is now battling an outbreak of Japanese Encephalitis (JE). At least 27 people have died of JE from July 1-16 this year, according to the National Health Mission (NHM), Assam. Altogether 169 cases have been reported during the period.
At least 16 people have died of Acute Encephalitis Syndrome or AES this year. On July 16, nine cases and four deaths were reported in Jorhat district.
Three cases were reported from Golaghat, two each in Sivasagar and Sonitpur and one each in Goalpara and Kokrajhar.
The state health department has directed all districts to set up rapid response teams and take steps to curb the outbreak of the disease.
Health teams across the state have been instructed to intensify monitoring.
“The tests for JE are available free of cost in all district hospitals and government medical colleges and hospitals,” the NHM said. Both JE and AES are mosquito-borne diseases.
In 2018, JE and AES killed 277 people in Assam. The numbers of deaths in 2019, 2020 and 2021 were 514, 147 and 131, respectively.
Meanwhile, the flood situation in Assam improved as no major river was flowing above the danger mark on Sunday, though about 90,000 people continued to be affected.
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