Encephalitis kills three more in Bengal, toll now 61

Siliguri, July 22 (IANS) The raging encephalitis menace Tuesday claimed three more lives in northern West Bengal, taking the death count to 61 over the past 20 days, health officials said.

All three deaths were reported from the North Bengal Medical College and Hospital (NBMCH), the institution's principal Anup Kumar Roy said.

One of the victims was a resident of Purnea in Bihar.

Of the three deaths, one was a confirmed case of Japanese encephalitis, said Roy.

Several people from Assam were among those who died over the past two days.

An expert team from the National Institute of Virology in Pune visited the NBMCH here in Darjeeling district and collected blood samples and spoke with the patients.

Medical officers said 40 patients with high fever were being treated at the NBMCH. Twenty-six others were under treatment at the Jalpaiguri district hospital.

Meanwhile, a special drive was initiated across north Bengal to ensure that piggeries are located away from densely populated areas.

The state government has decided to carry out an entomological survey of north Bengal by roping in the Centre for Research in Medical Entomology.

The survey will help in ascertaining the mode of transmission of the virus, a top health official said.

The state health department has opened fever clinics, with special diagnostic kits, in each of the seven northern Bengal districts - Darjeeling, Jalpaiguri, Alipurduar, Cooch Behar, Malda, North and South Dinajpur.

Encephalitis is a disease that results in inflammation of the brain, affecting the patient's central nervous system. It is caused by bacterial or viral infections of the brain, injection of toxic substances or increased complications of an infectious disease.

While the lesser symptoms include headache and fever, the more severe ones cause the onset of mental issues like seizures, confusion, disorientation, tremors and hallucinations.

Japanese Encephalitis Syndrome is caused by a mosquito-borne virus. While humans are the dead-end hosts of the virus, pigs acts as amplifying hosts that aid in spread of the disease.