Encephalitis death toll rises to 393

Japanese encephalitis killed 41 people overnight in the northern Indian state of Uttar Pradesh, pushing the death toll since the start of the outbreak in midsummer to 393, officials said today.

More than 1,100 patients, mostly children, were being treated in government hospitals across the state and doctors described the condition of some of them as serious.

Japanese encephalitis is spread from pigs to humans by mosquitos. Children are more susceptible to the disease and most of the dead in the outbreak have been under the age of 15.

The state’s top health official, Dr O P Singh, said 41 children had died of Japanese encephalitis overnight, pushing the death toll to 393 since the outbreak began in late July.

Japanese encephalitis causes high fever and vomiting and can sometimes lead to coma and death. It is spread by mosquitos that breed in water puddles left by annual monsoon rains that run from June through September.

Indian health authorities have said they will send 7.5 million doses of anti-encephalitis vaccine to Uttar Pradesh.

They have also promised to hand out 200,000 mosquito nets to poor villagers, who often sleep outside on hot summer nights and leave themselves exposed to the insects.

The eastern parts of Uttar Pradesh, India’s largest state, are the worst hit with nearly 350 deaths reported in the region over the last three weeks.

On Friday, 29 of the deaths occurred in Gorakhpur, 155 miles southeast of Lucknow, the state capital, doctors said.

“In almost every village around Gorakhpur, children are sick and dying,” said Dr T N Dhole, a medicine professor who is treating the ill. “It is a catastrophe.”

“Naked children sharing a bed with other children is a common sight in government hospitals. It is a shocking to see hundreds of small children lying motionless and breathing through oxygen masks,” Dhole said.