One Acute Encephalitis Syndrome (AES) case reported in Bihar's Muzaffarpur

One Acute Encephalitis Syndrome (AES) case was reported in a three and a half-year-old boy at Sri Krishna Medical College & Hospital (SKMCH) in Bihar's Muzaffarpur on Friday. Earlier in July 2019, AES had claimed 142 lives in Muzaffarpur district.

As per official data, 121 deaths were reported at the government-run SKMCH, which handled the largest number of patients in the district, while 21 deaths were confirmed at the Kejriwal Hospital. AES is a viral disease that causes flu-like symptoms such as high fever, vomiting and in extreme cases, brain dysfunction, seizure, and inflammation of the heart and kidney.

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Special unit for tackling AES

According to reports, the Union Health Ministry has offered to build a special unit for tackling Acute Encephalitis Syndrome cases in Bihar’s Muzaffarpur, which has emerged as the epicenter of the outbreak of a disease that has killed hundreds of children in the region over the years. 

The unit will be built as part of Centre’s Pradhan Mantri Swasthya Suraksha Yojana - a programme aimed at creating regional AIIMS but also supporting up-gradation of existing government medical colleges in the states, the reports stated. 

Also, a high-level team sent by the Centre to study the deaths had established a co-relation with day temperature exceeding 40 degrees Celsius over three days at a stretch coupled with constantly high night temperature with a spike in the disease.

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(With agency inputs)