Japanese encephalitis (JE) has claimed the lives of eight more children in the last five days in Bihar's Gaya district, taking the death toll in the epidemic to 62, a health official said Thursday.
The two children died in the last 24 hours and six in the last five days at Anugrah Narayan Medical College and Hospital (ANMCH), about 100 km from here, hospital superintendent Sitaram Prasad said.
Rajkumari Devi is no astrologer. But with self-acquired expertise in agriculture she has become proficient in assessing the quality of the soil in her area and ensuring successful harvests. Through the experience of three decades this 'kisan chachi', as she is called, has learnt all the nuances of good farming practices.
Bihar is in the grip of yet another seasonal outbreak of encephalitis that has claimed the lives of at least 16 children in the Magadh division in less than three weeks.
Many parts of the flood-prone north Bihar are currently under a flood scare as several rivers have witnessed an alarming rise in their water levels in the past few days, setting off a quickened erosion of large portions of the river banks and making people scared.
An alert was sounded in Bihar after two youths were drowned in a flooded river on Monday. The flood situation worsened in Gopalganj, Sitamarhi and Muzaffarpur districts with rivers swelling.
With the death toll in the mysterious disease rising to 47 on Sunday, the Bihar government is likely to declare it an epidemic.
Under the epidemic Act, the Health Ministry will be empowered to take samples of brain tissues of the mystery disease victims.
Six deaths have been reported during the last 48 hours, including five at K D Kejriwal Maternity Hospital.
Priti, Nirjala, Sahil and Sonu, all three years old, Ajit (6), Anshu (4), Amarjit (8) and Shivani, just one and a half, were among the 15 children who have died of suspected encephalitis at Muzaffarpur
At least 22 children below the age of six years have died, and 35 others hospitalised during the past one week in Bihar's Muzaffarpur district due to a mystery disease, officials said.
While four children died at the Sri Krishna Medical College and Hospital (SKMCH), three others died at the Kejriwal Hospital in Muzaffarpur town, they said.
Ever since mango trees began flowering in both western and eastern Uttar Pradesh this season, farmers as well as scientists at the Central Institute of Subtropical Horticulture (CISH), Lucknow, are working overtime to save the crop.
In the districts of Sandila, Barabanki, Malihabad in Lucknow, Saharanpur and Muzaffarnagar, scientists are helping farmers in pest management.
