MALKANGIRI: With massive intervention on multiple fronts, the district administration has finally been able to control Japanese Encephalitis (JE).The mosquito-borne disease caused by JE virus had claimed at least 34 lives in the Koya tribe dominated villages in 2016. Two years hence, with an all-out war declared against the disease by the district administration, its recurrence has been prevented. Of the 103 deaths reported in 2016, about 34 were due to Japanese Encephalitis (JE) while the remaining were caused by Acute Encephalitis Syndrome (AES). No deaths due to JE have been reported in the last two years.
Massive vaccination drive, multiple strategies, series of interventions and awareness programmes undertaken by the administration with the active participation of all ASHA, AWW, health workers and PRI members in the last two years has helped in controlling JE trend in the district, Malkangiri Collector Manish Agarwal said.
He said bush cutting was undertaken in the identified villages and insecticide sprayed in waterlogged locations in JE-prone villages to destroy mosquito larvae. Contacted, Vector Borne Disease consultant Ajit Kumar Dalai said apart from vaccination drive, posters had been supplied to all schools across the district to raise awareness on JE among students. “The newborns are also being vaccinated from time to time under the routine immunisation programme,” he said