Rajasthan gets first sting in Japanese encephalitis, victim died in Kota

As if the dengue menace was not enough, In  a state which is alrady hamstrung with doctors’ strike this is no good news. Rajasthan has registered the first death due to Japanese Encephalitis, the disease with higher fatality rate, in Kota division. The patient, a 30-year old woman, died in Maharawal Bhim Singh (MBS) hospital on October 16 and after 25 days of her death, it has been confirmed in the report from National Institute of Virology (NIV), Pune, that she was suffering from Japanese Encephalitis. State health officials, sitting in Jaipur, were still “unaware” about the case.

As per the report by NIV sent on November 9, results for serum sample of Manju (30), tested positive for JEIgM. Manju, wife of Parasram, was a resident of Chamunda colony in Kishoraipatan in Bundi district, 24 km from Kota divisional headquarters.

“She had fever on October 6,” Parasram told DNA. “After consulting with local doctors, we took her to New Medical College, Kota on October 8 from where she was admitted to Sudha Hospital at Talwandi with complaints of fever and unconsciousness on October 9. After 3 days, on October 12, she was discharged from there and was admitted to MBS hospital where she breathed her last on October 16,” said Parasram.

DNA FINDS: DNA , In it’s investigation found that when Manju was admitted in Sudha Hospital, Dr Amit Dev, neurologist at the hospital, took the blood sample and sent to NIV for serum test as he found the patient suspect of JE. Now the test report confirms the same.

LAXITY REPEATED: In April this year, a 10-year-old boy, from Daraganv of Dariyawad in Pratapgarh district was tested positive for JE in a test of serum. But, he was tested negative for JE in cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) test. That time Pratapgarh epidemiologist kept it a secret and this time, despite of death of the patient, officials are clueless.

JE BITES IN INDIA

• A recent study conducted by researchers from John Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health has concluded that the cases of dengue and chikungunya have been under-reported.
   
• Last year alone, 1500 cases of Japanese encephalitis were reported in India, particularly in the northeastern states. The cases and deaths due to this form of encephalitis have more than doubled since’10.
   
• The number of people with variant forms of viral illnesses, which often go unreported and undetected, is difficult to establish.

HEALTH DEPT CLUELESS

Health officials were not fully “aware” of the facts about the case. The patient was in MBS hospital from October 12, but health department does not have any record from the hospital till date. One official, one the account of anonymity told DNA that till November 9, the department even didn’t know that such a sample of some JE suspect has been taken and sent to NIV. Even after the report was received, it took more than 24 hours for the health department to identify the patient.