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Mounting encephalitis deaths but little to check it

LUCKNOW: With nearly 300 people, mostly children, succumbing to the dreaded encephalitis in Uttar Pradesh since August this year, the sheer number of casualties has once again exposed the State Government’s claims and the limitations of the preventive measures.

Gorakhpur, Kushinagar and Maharajganj districts of Gorakhpur Division in eastern UP have borne the brunt of the fatal disease with the majority of the victims belonging to the villages in these districts. As many as 222 children have died in the Paediatrics Ward of Baba Raghav Das Medical College in Gorakhpur.

Considered one of the biggest health problems in India since 1978 when the disease was first noted, encephalitis (Japanese Encephalitis to begin with, and now Entero-Viral Encephalitis) normally breaks out in August and reaches its peak in September-October before declining. Even after almost 30 years of its incidence, encephalitis continues to create a fear psychosis among the poor people of the region. It has been estimated that about 17,000 cases of encephalitis have been reported in the region since 1978. According to the doctors at the BRD Medical College, an average of 20 to 40 cases of acute encephalitis syndrome were admitted daily till September but since then the number of fresh arrivals has declined to 16 to 17 cases per day. In fact, a new dimension has been added to the health problem associated with the disease. Says Professor K. P. Kushwaha of the Dept. of Paediatrics, BRDMC, “Only about 15 per cent cases were those of JE, the majority 85 per cent victims carried non-JE virus called entero virus, hence the name, Entero-Viral Encephalitis.”

Since the focus has shifted from JE to EVE, preventive measures too needed a fresh look. “Entero viruses enter the body through eye ailments and human excreta; as such, fogging to eradicate the disease-bearing mosquitoes is not the only solution to the problem. A massive State intervention is needed in the form of construction of water channels in villages, toilets and provision of safe drinking water,” Prof. Kushwaha told The Hindu from Gorakhpur.

Incidentally, vaccination is still considered the safest and the best preventive measure. “Vaccination has to be adopted as a policy measure. After all, the disease was eradicated in other countries like China and Japan by administering vaccines to the children,” said Y. D. Singh, Member of the UP Legislative Council. ,

Himself a medical practitioner, Dr. Singh said around 67 lakh vaccines were administered in Gorakhpur Division in 2006 but there have been no follow-up measures this year. “Actually, control of the disease has assumed political overtones,” Dr. Singh said. “What is essentially a health problem has been made into an issue of the Medical College. A holistic approach is required keeping in mind the specific health needs of the people of the region, a Lucknow-centric approach wont help.”

The proposal to set up a viral research centre and epidemic ward in BRDMC was approved in 2005. The ward has been completed but there is no manpower to tend to the patients. The posts were released after sanction last month but the recruitment is yet to start. Equipment worth Rs.59 lakh has been bought but has not been installed in the viral research centre.

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