Asia-Pacific Daily Report

Dozens of children have been admitted to the hospital in India's northern Uttar Pradesh state with symptoms of encephalitis, South Asia's Asian News International (ANI) news agency reported. The children have been admitted to a state-run hospital in Uttar Pradesh's Gorakphur district with symptoms of the disease. "It is not the season for the disease, yet 210 patients have been treated so far. This is negligence on the part of the government, because it does not affect the people in Delhi, Bangalore and bigger cities and people who travel in aeroplanes, have political connections, or are rich, but affects the poor and the backward classes. Therefore, neither the central government nor the state government is unaffected by it," ANI quoted Dr Radha Mohan Das Aggarwal, a local politician, as saying. According to ANI, cases are expected to increase with the arrival of the monsoon season and may continue until December. "The most important thing is awareness among the people. Hygiene is necessary because Japanese encephalitis is transmitted by mosquitoes. There is a need to control mosquito growth and ensure personal hygiene. Japanese encephalitis can thus be reduced," ANI quoted Dr. A K Pandey, the Research Officer at the National Institute of Virology as saying. The disease generally affects children between the ages of one and 15 years, ANI reported. Japanese encephalitis is transmitted by mosquitoes and causes inflammation of the membranes surrounding the brain. JE kills approximately 15,000 people of the estimated 50,000 cases reported annually. Among the survivors, up to 75 percent suffer from disabilities, including paralysis and mental retardation. A mild infection may occur without apparent symptoms other than a fever and headache, but a more severe infection has symptoms of high fever, neck stiffness, stupor, disorientation, coma, tremors, occasional convulsions and spastic paralysis.

Source:

· http://in.news.yahoo.com/139/20100415/808/tnl-dozens-hospitalised-with-encephali...

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