PIL in HC on Japanese Encephalitis outbreak

Cuttack: A public interest litigation (PIL) was filed in Orissa High Court on Saturday on the outbreak of Japanese Encephalitis (JE) in Malkangiri. The vector-borne disease has so far claimed 103 lives in the tribal-dominated district.

Though expert teams from Centre and State as well have been camping in the region for quite some days, the deadly disease has refused to relent. The deadly disease originates from pigs and spreads to humans, mostly children, through mosquitoes. Symptoms of Japanese Encephalitis include fever, nausea and fatigue.

As per the official sources, discussions with national-level experts are being held for control measures and vaccination drives will be conducted in Malkangiri in the last week of December.

Meanwhile the State government has started a training programme for health staff for mass vaccination against the disease.

Sources said around 26 lakh children in the age group of one to 15 years will be targeted in two phases in Malkangiri, Mayurbhanj, Keonjhar and Jajpur districts.

In the first phase, the State has received 10 lakh vaccines and the vaccination will begin from first week of December in the four tribal-dominated districts. Joint Director of National Vector Borne Disease Control Programme (NVBDCP) MM Pradhan said vaccination in Malkangiri will be taken up in second phase as the disease there is in transmission mode.