The rising number of encephalitis cases in Mumbai are becoming a cause for concern, according to city doctors.
Kasturba hospital, Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation’s (BMC) only infectious disease hospital, is getting 2-3 cases per week.
A senior doctor from the hospital said: “Encephalitis cases are on the rise since the last one month. We have been getting 2-3 cases every week.”
However, the doctors are unsure whether it is encephalitis or Japanese encephalitis which is also a cause of major concern in parts of North India. “Japanese encephalitis is a kind of encephalitis which spreads through the bite of culex mosquito. We are not sure whether the cases in Kasturba hospital are Japanese encephalitis, but the cases are a cause for concern,” said the doctor. Japanese encephalitis has infected 14 people in Delhi so far this year. Interestingly, the hospital hasn’t sent any samples for testing at the National Institute of Virology (NIV), Pune. “Ideally they should have sent the samples to NIV, but it has not been done so far,” he added.
According to the doctor, the patients presently hospitalised in Kasturba hospital are from various parts of the city and some are from outside Mumbai.
Dr Pratit Samdhani, a consulting physician at Jaslok hospital, said: “Maharashtra generally sees sporadic cases of Japanese encephalitis. Otherwise we keep getting viral encephalitis on and off.”
