North Bengal encephalitis toll rises to 102

Encephalitis toll in seven north Bengal districts rose to 102 today since January with five more deaths reported since last Sunday.
"Around 102 people have died so far since January one," West Bengal Director of Medical Education (DME) Dr Susanta Banerjee told PTI here.
The DME said that it was a case of mixed infection with Japanese Encephalitis being responsible for around 24 per cent of infection.
He, however, sounded hopeful that the number of deaths and affected people would come down gradually.
"We are hopeful that the situation will come under control soon," Banerjee said.
Banerjee said that the municipalities have been asked to maintain cleanliness and to do fogging of localities regularly to control the disease.

"Awareness drives are also being taken to ensure cleanliness among individuals to prevent spread of the disease," Banerjee said.

State Health Services director Biswaranjan Satpathy said "the situation is under control."
He is camping in Siliguri to monitor the situation.
Jalpaiguri district was the worst-hit with rural areas in Dhupguri and Moynaguri being the most affected because of the presence of large number of piggeries from where Japanese encephalitis spread.
Satpathy, who held a meeting of chief medical officers of North Bengal hospitals at Siliguri yesterday, said the number of deaths due to Japanese encephalitis was much higher this year than in 2013 when the figure was only five.

Last year the number of those affected by encephalitis was 385 and the 115 had died due to it, he said.