Other States - Uttar Pradesh   

It's not JE, say scientists

The killer disease identified as the viral Asceptic Meningitis

Lucknow: There is a new killer on the loose in the eastern districts of Uttar Pradesh. What was once believed to be the dreaded Japanese Encephalitis, killing hundreds of people, especially children, in eastern U.P. has now been identified as the viral disease Asceptic Meningitis by a team of microbiologists from the prestigious Sanjay Gandhi Post-graduate Institute of Medical Sciences.

A team from the SGPIMS headed by T.N. Dhole was rushed to Gorakhpur and Basti divisions by the government after a spurt in cases of suspected JE. The team confirmed that the potential killer was Asceptic Meningitis, caused by the coxsackie-b virus, which is less severe than the JE virus, Dhole told PTI here.

The Union Health Ministry recently named the disease as Acute Viral Encephalitis Syndrome, he said.

As many as 74 people, mostly children, have so far died in different eastern districts in the State since April, according to official figures. It was earlier suspected that the deaths were caused by JE as the disease killed people in large numbers every monsoon.

As many as 1,000 people died of JE in the region last year, official records say.

But scientists suspected the role of some other virus in the region and extensively tested samples. Of the 31 samples tested by the team, 28 tested positive for AM, while only two showed the presence of arbo-b virus that caused JE, Dhole said.

Coxsackie-b virus was present in the atmosphere of the higher reaches and if care was not taken it could strike in the plains as well, Dhole said.

Cleanliness and hygiene can prevent children from the onslaught of the virus, as the root cause and the cycle of coxsackie virus were not known and there was no vaccine to prevent the occurrence of aseptic meningitis, he said.

The virus was a variant of the enterovirus that causes polio and can be serious or life threatening.

"We are doing virus sequencing to try and ascertain its growth cycle and how it affects human health. At present we can say that the virus spreads through the fecoral route, which means that it is not caused by mosquitoes and undergoes man-to-man transmission," Dhole said.

Asked why the presence of coxsackie-b virus was not traced last year when a similar team led by him visited the JE-affected areas and took samples, he said the scientists had taken random samples and there were chances that they might have missed those afflicted with this disease.

State Director General of Medical and Health B. Nath said the department had requested experts from the National Institute of Virology, Pune, to visit affected areas. The team from Pune will be in the State next week and visit the affected areas with Dhole. -- PTI

Printer friendly page  
Send this article to Friends by E-Mail

Stories in this Section

U.P. Assembly Session begins today
It's not JE, say scientists
Stones hurled at car of Chief Justice
Nabbed

Copyright © 2006, The Hindu. Republication or redissemination of the contents of this screen are expressly prohibited without the written consent of The Hindu