JAPANESE ENCEPHALITIS; KILLING

SPREE IN BIHAR
Death of one patient due to H1N1 caused hue and cry
across the nation with electronic channels giving running
commentary on it, death of thousands of poor people due
to encephalitis went almost unnoticed and unlamented in
the country. This paradox has to come to an end.

Following more than two dozen deaths in

Gaya district of the state of Bihar in a
couple of weeks, the government has
given a wake up call to the health officials
in the state headquarters and asked them
to launch a special anti-encephalitis
vaccination drive on 12th the November
2009 in affected areas in Gaya district.
In a couple of weeks, more than 100
patients have reached to Anugraha
Naryan Medical College and Hospital
(ANMCH) Gaya who showed signs of
Japanese encephalitis. Although
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government denies, many NGOs working
in the areas say that more than 25
patients mostly children of poor family
have lost their lives due this silent killer
disease.
Japanese encephalitis has been taking
heavy tolls in some areas in Bihar and
Eastern UP. According to BBC, from 1974
to 2005 about 8000 people including
many children have died due to this
disease. Gazipur, Kusinagar, Mirzapur,
Gorakhpur in UP are badly affected by
this disease and hundreds of people,
mostly children die due to this it.
In Vashali and Muzaffarpur districts in
Bihar, 39 people died in the month of
August- September, 2009 itself which
caused much furore in the government
circle, but after some time again
everything went as usual.

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Similarly in Kharagpur sub-division of
Munger district, more than 100 tribal died
due this encephalitis and Union
government had to send a medical team
in the affected area to collect blood
sample for making laboratory test in
Delhi. What happened thereafter, hardly
known to the people suffering from this
epidemic.
Japanese encephalitis is caused because
Culex tritaeniorhynchus, mosquito
carries Japanese encephalitis virus
into human being from wild pigs and
birds. These mosquitoes grow in dark and
damp places especially near hilly and
plateau areas therefore most of the
victims are tribal or poor people who live
in dark and damp conditions.
Unfortunately, since the victims are
mostly neglected and marginalized
sections of society, media also pay little
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or no attention on it. Death of one patient
due to H1N1 caused hue and cry across
the nation with electronic channels giving
running commentary on it, death of
thousands of poor people went almost
unnoticed and unlamented in the country.
This paradox has to come to an end.
Hopefully the vaccination drive would
help mitigate the woes of the suffering
people and would give some respite to
the people living in the affected areas.