Asia-Pacific Daily Report

Indian officials and news reports said this week that more than 210 people have died and hundreds have been infected with encephalitis in India's north. The states affected by the outbreak are Uttar Pradesh and Bihar, but hospitals say some patients have come from neighboring Nepal as well. Officials believe that the epicenter of the outbreak is Uttar Pradesh's eastern district of Gorakhpur. The Press Trust of India (PTI) reported Tuesday (August 25) that three more children have died of Japanese encephalitis in Uttar Pradesh, bringing the death toll to 180 in the state since January. Japanese encephalitis is a mosquito-borne disease that causes high fevers, vomiting and can sometimes lead to comas and death. The mosquitoes transmit the virus from pigs and birds to humans. So far, some 900 affected children have been admitted to hospitals in Uttar Pradesh state, according to the BBC. Health officials from the state capital, Lucknow, say that cases of acute encephalitis are being reported mostly from 14 districts in eastern Uttar Pradesh, in the foothills of the Himalayas, the BBC reported. The areas are prone to annual floods, water-logging and poor sanitation that provide breeding grounds for mosquitoes, according to the BBC. The risk of being infected by the disease increases during and after India's rainy season, which lasts roughly from June to October. According to the Indo-Asian News Service (IANS), Bihar state was on high alert to check the spread of the disease after 39 children died of the disease since late July. "Until 2005, the region was suffering due to Japanese encephalitis, a mosquito-borne disease, which was eradicated to some extent ... But now it is enteroviral encephalitis, which is water-borne," IANS quoted health official LP Rawat as saying. According to the BBC, encephalitis has killed thousands in the country since 1978. Doctors say that children between the ages of six months and 15 years are the worst-affected and most of the victims are poor people from rural areas. Doctors say that children who survive will have to face lifelong problems as the disease has a crippling effect. There is no cure for the disease after it is contracted, but there are three vaccines in use worldwide. However, India has so far failed to develop an effective vaccination program, according to the BBC. In 2005, a public outcry forced the government to start a mass vaccination program, after 1,500 children died. However, according to the BBC, doctors say the program has not been satisfactory this year.

Source:

· http://www.khaleejtimes.com/DisplayArticleNew.asp?section=international&xfile=da...

· http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/2009-08/25/content_11940936.htm

· http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/8217453.stm

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