Kindgo
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Guwahati, Aug 2, IRNA -- The flood-hit northeastern Indian state of
Assam Thursday sought urgent help from the central health ministry
to tackle a Japanese encephalitis epidemic that has claimed up to 86
lives since July, officials said.
"We want the central government to provide us with
anti-encephalitis vaccines as the disease was assuming alarming
proportions across the state," Assam's Health Minister Bhumidhar
Barman told IRNA.
"A single vaccine costs about Rs 3,000 and the state government
does not have the resources to bear the expenditure if we are to
inoculate people in thousands in worst-hit areas," he added.
Five people were drowned overnight in parts of eastern Assam's
Morigaon and Dhemaji districts taking the death toll to 41 since July
when heavy monsoon rains triggered flashfloods in the state.
The floodwaters of the Brahmaputra river have left more than five
million people homeless spread over 19 of the total 23 districts in
Assam.
Nandita Choudhury, principal of the Assam Medical College in
eastern Dibrugarh district, said 80 people had died of Japanese-B
encephalitis in her institution since early July. Another 120 are
being treated for the disease, she added. Most of the victims are
children.
"We are worried with more and more cases being brought in to the
hospital. The situation is threatening, with no specific drugs
available for Japanese-B encephalitis," she said, adding "the
treatment is only supportive."
The disease, transmitted from pigs through culex mosquitoes, strikes
during the peak breeding period from late spring to early autumn.
Encephalitis causes inflammation of the brain tissue, producing
symptoms of high fever, headache, and loss of voice and involuntary
movement of the body.
Health officials, however, said all the encephalitis deaths could
not be directly linked to flooding in Assam.
"It is very difficult to say if all the encephalitis deaths were
flood-related although most of the patients were from flood-hit
areas," the minister said.
Meanwhile, the flood situation has started improving with the
Brahmaputra waters receding.
"There has been considerable improvement in the flood situation
although people sheltered on embankments are unlikely to return to
their villages before the weekend," Assam's Flood Control Minister
Nurzamal Sarkar told IRNA.
BH/AR
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God bless,
Kindgo
Inside the will of God there is no failure. Outside the will of God there is no success.
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