Reuters, New Delhi :
Almost 570 people in India have died after contracting encephalitis, commonly known as “brain fever”, health authorities said on Friday, warning the death toll may rise with more people still at risk.
Outbreaks of Acute Encephalitis Syndrome and Japanese Encephalitis are common every year in India, especially during the monsoon season, and claim hundreds of lives.
But this year, major outbreaks – usually most prevalent in Uttar Pradesh and Bihar – have spread to regions such as West Bengal and Assam – killing 568 people.
In West Bengal, where at least 111 people have died from both strains, a senior
health official said authorities were taking emergency steps to contain the outbreak.
“We have sounded an alert in seven districts and cancelled the leave of all health department officials,” said West Bengal’s Health Services Director B.R. Satpathy.
The health department has set up clinics across affected areas and is trying to prevent the breeding of mosquitoes by fogging, especially around pig farms, where there is a high risk of contracting the virus.
Encephalitis is an inflammation of the brain, caused by any one of a number of viruses, says the World Health Organisation. Symptoms include high fever, vomiting and, in severe cases, seizures, paralysis and coma. Infants and elderly people are particularly vulnerable.
It is most often caused by eating or drinking contaminated food or water, from mosquito or other insect bites, or through breathing in respiratory droplets from an infected person.
Almost 570 people in India have died after contracting encephalitis, commonly known as “brain fever”, health authorities said on Friday, warning the death toll may rise with more people still at risk.
Outbreaks of Acute Encephalitis Syndrome and Japanese Encephalitis are common every year in India, especially during the monsoon season, and claim hundreds of lives.
But this year, major outbreaks – usually most prevalent in Uttar Pradesh and Bihar – have spread to regions such as West Bengal and Assam – killing 568 people.
In West Bengal, where at least 111 people have died from both strains, a senior
health official said authorities were taking emergency steps to contain the outbreak.
“We have sounded an alert in seven districts and cancelled the leave of all health department officials,” said West Bengal’s Health Services Director B.R. Satpathy.
The health department has set up clinics across affected areas and is trying to prevent the breeding of mosquitoes by fogging, especially around pig farms, where there is a high risk of contracting the virus.
Encephalitis is an inflammation of the brain, caused by any one of a number of viruses, says the World Health Organisation. Symptoms include high fever, vomiting and, in severe cases, seizures, paralysis and coma. Infants and elderly people are particularly vulnerable.
It is most often caused by eating or drinking contaminated food or water, from mosquito or other insect bites, or through breathing in respiratory droplets from an infected person.
