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Archive Number 20110715.2145
Published Date 15-JUL-2011
Subject PRO/AH/EDR> Japanese encephalitis & other - India (02): (AS)
JAPANESE ENCEPHALITIS AND OTHER - INDIA (02): (ASSAM)
*****************************************************
A ProMED-mail post
<http://www.promedmail.org>
ProMED-mail is a program of the
International Society for Infectious Diseases
<http://www.isid.org>
Date: Thu 14 Jul 2011
Source: The Telegraph [edited]
<http://www.telegraphindia.com/1110715/jsp/northeast/story_14240141.jsp>
The Sivasagar district [Assam state] administration has sent an SOS
to Dispur, seeking help in battling encephalitis, which has claimed 21
lives this year [2011], including 10 in the past 10 days. Altogether
79 cases have been reported since January this year [2011].
In Jorhat district [Assam state], the health department is carrying
out a massive drive following the detection of about 20 cases of
encephalitis and 8 deaths. Only last night [13 Jul 2011], a professor
of the crop physiology department of the Assam Agricultural University
died of encephalitis.
The joint director of health in Sivasagar, Sadhana Dutta, told The
Telegraph that the department through the district administration had
urged Dispur to send stocks of chemicals like melatheon [sic.
malathion] and K-othreon [sic. K-Othrine, a contact pyrethroid
insecticide. - Mod.TY] immediately to control the rising number of
cases of encephalitis. She said 2 trucks were expected to reach
Sivasagar soon.
Dutta said the health department was spraying and fogging chemicals
in areas under all the 8 public health centres (PHCs) across the
district regularly, exhausting the stocks. She said long-lasting
insecticide-treated bed nets, too, were distributed in the vulnerable
areas. K-Othrine was pasted on bed nets of people residing along the
inter-state border and also in other villages from where cases were
reported.
She said Sivasagar deputy commissioner Jatindra Lahkar had yesterday
[13 Jul 2011] convened a meeting with health department officials to
review the situation. The chief medical health officer of Sivasagar
district, Akhil Hazarika, said of the 79 cases of acute encephalitis
syndrome (AES), 15 had symptoms similar to Japanese encephalitis (JE).
Of the 21 deaths in Sivasagar district, 6 were from Japanese
encephalitis and 15 from AES.
Hazarika said among the 8 PHC areas of the district, Geleki, near the
Assam-Nagaland border, was the worst hit.
--
Communicated by:
Ronan Kelly for FluTrackers.com
[Once again, there are reports of Japanese encephalitis (JE) virus
infections in northeastern India, but as a minor component of "acute
encephalitis syndrome" (AES) of unspecified etiology. Reports from
this general area in India last year (2010) implied a waterborne
pathogen or pathogens, perhaps enteroviruses. No mention is made of
the JE virus vaccine status of the populations where the current cases
are occurring, nor of plans to mount a vaccination campaign. Until
there is a definitive diagnosis of these unspecified AES cases,
prevention will be difficult and more cases can be anticipated.
A HealthMap/ProMED-mail interactive map of India showing the location
of Assam state can be accessed at <http://healthmap.org/r/00J->. -
Mod. TY]
Archive Number 20110715.2145
Published Date 15-JUL-2011
Subject PRO/AH/EDR> Japanese encephalitis & other - India (02): (AS)
JAPANESE ENCEPHALITIS AND OTHER - INDIA (02): (ASSAM)
*****************************************************
A ProMED-mail post
<http://www.promedmail.org>
ProMED-mail is a program of the
International Society for Infectious Diseases
<http://www.isid.org>
Date: Thu 14 Jul 2011
Source: The Telegraph [edited]
<http://www.telegraphindia.com/1110715/jsp/northeast/story_14240141.jsp>
The Sivasagar district [Assam state] administration has sent an SOS
to Dispur, seeking help in battling encephalitis, which has claimed 21
lives this year [2011], including 10 in the past 10 days. Altogether
79 cases have been reported since January this year [2011].
In Jorhat district [Assam state], the health department is carrying
out a massive drive following the detection of about 20 cases of
encephalitis and 8 deaths. Only last night [13 Jul 2011], a professor
of the crop physiology department of the Assam Agricultural University
died of encephalitis.
The joint director of health in Sivasagar, Sadhana Dutta, told The
Telegraph that the department through the district administration had
urged Dispur to send stocks of chemicals like melatheon [sic.
malathion] and K-othreon [sic. K-Othrine, a contact pyrethroid
insecticide. - Mod.TY] immediately to control the rising number of
cases of encephalitis. She said 2 trucks were expected to reach
Sivasagar soon.
Dutta said the health department was spraying and fogging chemicals
in areas under all the 8 public health centres (PHCs) across the
district regularly, exhausting the stocks. She said long-lasting
insecticide-treated bed nets, too, were distributed in the vulnerable
areas. K-Othrine was pasted on bed nets of people residing along the
inter-state border and also in other villages from where cases were
reported.
She said Sivasagar deputy commissioner Jatindra Lahkar had yesterday
[13 Jul 2011] convened a meeting with health department officials to
review the situation. The chief medical health officer of Sivasagar
district, Akhil Hazarika, said of the 79 cases of acute encephalitis
syndrome (AES), 15 had symptoms similar to Japanese encephalitis (JE).
Of the 21 deaths in Sivasagar district, 6 were from Japanese
encephalitis and 15 from AES.
Hazarika said among the 8 PHC areas of the district, Geleki, near the
Assam-Nagaland border, was the worst hit.
--
Communicated by:
Ronan Kelly for FluTrackers.com
[Once again, there are reports of Japanese encephalitis (JE) virus
infections in northeastern India, but as a minor component of "acute
encephalitis syndrome" (AES) of unspecified etiology. Reports from
this general area in India last year (2010) implied a waterborne
pathogen or pathogens, perhaps enteroviruses. No mention is made of
the JE virus vaccine status of the populations where the current cases
are occurring, nor of plans to mount a vaccination campaign. Until
there is a definitive diagnosis of these unspecified AES cases,
prevention will be difficult and more cases can be anticipated.
A HealthMap/ProMED-mail interactive map of India showing the location
of Assam state can be accessed at <http://healthmap.org/r/00J->. -
Mod. TY]