Bangladesh - 21 die of encephalitis in last week

[sharon sanders]

<!--*start_indexing*-->Encephalitis kills 21, affects 200 in Bangladesh

Posted 1 hour 48 minutes ago
Encephalitis disorder has killed 21 people, mostly children, and affected some 200 others at a remote part of Bangladesh over the past week, health officials say.
But they say they have not yet confirmed what caused the disease.
At least 30 people are still in hospitals, with fever and vomiting.
The authorities employed several medical teams to control the disease, which was earlier branded as a mystery illness when it first broke out at Goainghat near Sylhet town, 350 kilometres north-east of the capital, Dhaka.
"The preliminary diagnosis revealed that it was a type of encephalitis, inflammation of the brain," diagnostic team head Mahmudur Rahman said.
Mr Rahman said the patients were severely malnourished, with limited physical resistance against the disease. But he could not say why the patients were so malnourished.
He said Bangladesh's International Epidemiology Research Centre was closely working with the Centre for Disease Control and Prevention in the United States to determine which bacteria or virus had caused the disease.

Encephalitis killed 23 people and infected dozens in Bangladesh in 2004.

Before the diagnosis, many feared that the disease was bird flu.

Bird flu in Bangladesh has forced authorities to cull nearly 268,000 chickens and destroy nearly three million eggs since March this year.
Authorities said there was no case of human infection.
- Reuters


http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2007/11/12/2087705.htm

 

[Gert van der Hoek]

Re: Bangladesh - 21 die of encephalitis in last week

Children died of viral attack in brain

Experts say it's no unknown disease

Mahbuba Zannat


The 'unknown disease' that claimed 22 lives in Gowainghat and Companyganj is a form of viral encephalitis, confirmed experts yesterday.

Meanwhile, fewer number of patients with the encephalitis symptoms were admitted to local hospitals. Sylhet MAG Osmani Medical College and Hospital (SMMCH) yesterday admitted one such patient while Companyganj Health Complex (CHC) admitted three, said Dr Sirazur Rahman, emergency medical officer at SMMCH.

At SMMCH, one patient died yesterday and another 61 are still undergoing treatment, he added.

Prof Mahmudur Rahman of Institute of Epidemiology, Disease Control & Research (IEDCR) told this correspondent that the disease has been confirmed as viral encephalitis.

Viral encephalitis is not new to the country. It drew more attention this year because a higher number of people have been infected by it, he said.

It is notable that almost all the patients infected with encephalitis are from poor families and suffering from severe malnutrition -- one of the main reasons behind the high rate of death.

However, the government has taken immediate steps to better handle the cases of encephalitis, he said adding that Directorate of Relief and Rehabilitation, in response to the request of health and family welfare ministry, has allocated Tk 1 crore for the purpose.

Khondker Shefyetulla, director of Medical Education, Health and Manpower Development of Directorate General of Health Services (DGHS) said, death rate of encephalitis-infected patients usually ranges from 30 to 50 percent. Several DGHS teams are currently working in the affected area to raise awareness.

During the last few days, around 90 people have been infected with the disease in Gowainghat, Companyganj and Jokiganj upazilas. The patients have symptoms of convulsion, vomiting, diarrhoea and fever.

Since November 5, two teams of IEDCR and ICDDR, B have been working in the affected areas to investigate and manage the disease.

The teams collected samples of vomit and urine of the patients, water from tube-wells and ponds and vegetables from the affected villages for laboratory tests.

The encephalitis virus rapidly damages a patient's liver and brain. It also causes high secretion of enzyme in a patient's blood that result in metabolic disorder, Dr Sirazur Rahman told The Daily Star yesterday.

"The normal level of enzyme in blood should be 40 units per litre. Whereas, upto 9,000 units of enzyme have been detected in blood samples of the patients suffering from viral encephalitis.

Health Adviser Maj Gen (retd) ASM Matiur Rahman yesterday discussed the matter with expert physicians, who informed him that a high-powered eight-member specialist committee headed by Prof M Nazrul Islam of department of virology at BSMMU would be visiting the affected areas today to ascertain and find out the reasons behind the outbreak.

Other members of the committee are Prof Kazi Deen Mohammad of Dhaka Medical College and Hospital (DMCH), Principal of DMCH Prof M Abul Faiz, Director of Dhaka Children's Hospital Prof Selim Shakur, Director of NIPSOM Prof Zafar Ullah Chowdhury, Prof Anisur Rahman of Department of Epidemiology at NIPSOM, Associate Prof Mizanur Rahman of Department of Child Neurology at BSMMU and Director of health department Prof Moazzem Hossain.

http://www.thedailystar.net/story.php?nid=11328