Print this article

Bihar: Death toll due to mystery disease mounts to 26

June 20, 2011 15:27 IST

Suspected mosquito-borne disease -- encephalitis -- has claimed the lives of 26 children in Bihar's Muzaffarpur and Motihari districts in the last one week, a district health official said on Monday.

Though the state government is yet to confirm the cause of death, doctors treating the children in hospitals across the two districts say that the symptoms are similar to that of encephalitis. However, Bihar Health Minister Ashwini Kumar Choubey and government health officials continue to maintain that the deaths have been caused because of some unknown disease.

In last 48 hours alone, 13 children died at the Sri Krishna Medical College and Hospital and the Kejriwal Hospital. "Death toll in Muzaffarpur rose to 26 on Monday with 13 more deaths recorded in the last 48 hours," a district health official said.

"It appears to be an outbreak of encephalitis," a government doctor at SKMCH in Muzaffarpur told rediff.com, requesting anonymity.

However, Dr Baghirath Prasad, district malaria officer, said the situation is alarming as children are dying due to a mysterious disease. "The deaths of some many children has caused panic in the state," said.

A senior doctor at SKMCH in Muzaffarpur

said that the children caught sudden high fever followed by attacks of convulsions and unconsciousness that led to their deaths. According to doctors, the children, all in the age group of four to ten, who have succumbed to the disease, had symptoms similar to encephalitis.

Nearly three-dozen children still suffering from high fever are being treated at the SKMCH and other hospitals including private clinics in Muzaffarpur, district health officials said.

Dr A K Singh, civil surgeon, Muzaffarpur denied that encephalitis had claimed the lives of the children, but admitted that the symptoms were similar. "Medical authorities have collected samples which have been sent for tests in virology laboratories at Pune and Kolkata. The medical reports were still awaited," Singh said.

Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar after his return from China directed health officials to take preventive measures to check spread of the disease. He has also requested the Union Health Minister Gulam Nabi Azad to immediately send a central team to Bihar to find out the reasons behind the disease outbreak.

Doctors in Muzaffarpur said that last year during the May to June period suspected encephalitis had hit Muzaffarpur and claimed the lives of over two dozen children.

M I Khan in Patna