At a time when the Uttar Pradesh health department as well as experts thought that Japanese Encephalitis (JE) virus was no longer a threat in eastern UP,confirmation of 11 JE cases on Wednesday after a gap of almost eight months has become a cause of serious concern. In order to be sure that these are indeed JE cases and not those of Acute Encephalitis Syndrome,which has been a perennial problem,the samples were put through a double test. Even the second test confirmed these cases as JE positive. The mortality rate in Japanese Encephalitis,anywhere between 20 to 60 per cent,is the highest as compared to other forms of encephalitis. It is the only type of encephalitis for which vaccination is available and is being pursued under the routine immunization programme in the state. Since not a single JE case was reported in the state this year so far,experts had begun a study in eastern Uttar Pradesh to ascertain if a second dose of the JE vaccine was really required. Some health officials feel that these cases can be attributed to the fact that last year,newborns in eastern Uttar Pradesh could not be given the JE vaccination following a tussle between state and the Centre over the quality and the efficacy of vaccine. We have got 11 confirmed cases of Japanese Encephalitis so far. These are the first cases of the year and have thus removed our misconception that there were no cases of JE here. We had started concentrating on other types of viruses,but now we will have to concentrate on JE as well, said Dr K P Kushwaha at the Paediatric Department of Baba Raghav Das Medical College,Gorakhpur. While one patient is from Bihar,all the others are from UP. Two of them have died since. BRD College,Gorakhpur,is the nodal hospital for encephalitis cases in the region and patients from different parts of the state and Bihar come here for treatment. Dr R N Singh,who has been working for the eradication of encephalitis in the region,has demanded a second dose of vaccine for children. I have been telling the government that a second dose of the vaccine is required to get proper immunity against the virus but my plea was turned down with the reason that there were no cases of JE this year. However,with these fresh cases reported in past few days,it has been proven that JE is still in circulation, said Dr Singh. At present,a study on the efficacy of the vaccine is also being conducted in eastern Uttar Pradesh with the help of NIV field laboratory in Gorakhpur.
