Health Minister to visit Encephalitis-hit Gorakhpur

More than 450 children have died of Japanese Encephalitis in the last three months in Gorakhpur. The country's Health Minister, Ghulam Nabi Azad, will visit this district in UP today for the first time since the outbreak was reported. It allegedly took an intervention by Rahul Gandhi to prompt Mr Azad's tour.

Uttar Pradesh's chief minister, Mayawati, has not visited the area either.

KP Kushwaha, chief paediatrician at the BRD Medical College, has described this as one of the worst outbreaks of encephalitis in the impoverished region, which borders Nepal.

"The situation is grim and the epidemic is worse than previous years and with so many patients there are no empty beds at the hospital," Khuswaha said.

"Everyday between 30 and 40 patients are being brought in for treatment," he said.

He said more than 2,400 patients have been admitted to government hospitals in the region so far this year. At the overcrowded hospital, patients can be seen lying two to a bed.

Eastern parts of Uttar Pradesh are ravaged by encephalitis each year as malnourished children succumb to the virus, officials say.

Encephalitis causes brain inflammation and can result in brain damage. Symptoms include headaches, seizures and fever.

Uttar Pradesh, India's most populous state, has been struggling for years with an encephalitis prevention programme, vaccinating millions of children against the virus.

Eight more dead in UP; encephalitis toll at 376

With eight more deaths reported in the past 36 hours, the cumulative death toll due to encephalitis in eastern Uttar Pradesh has risen to 376 this year.

Of the persons who have succumbed to the disease, four are from Kushinagar and one each from Mahrajganj, Deoria, Basti and Gorakhpur districts, said Diwakar Prasad, Additional Director Health, Gorakhpur division.

They were undergoing treatment at BRD Medical College here and other government hospitals in adjacent districts, he said.

According to data available, as many as 44 patients have succumbed to various kinds of encephalitis in the region in the past 10 days.

Prasad said that out of 2,480 encephalitis patients admitted in the government hospitals in the region this year, 376 have succumbed to the disease.

At present, 321 encephalitis patients are undergoing treatment at BRD Medical College and hospitals in adjacent districts. 43 fresh patients of encephalitis have been admitted in BRD MCH and district hospitals of the region during the past 36 hours, Prasad said.

Experts say two mainly kinds of encephalitis are prevailing in the region -- Japanese encephalitis, which is caused by mosquito bite while the other type of encephalitis occurs due to consumption of unsafe drinking water.