Speed Post News Network
Patna : Bihar leads in reporting the maximum number of cases of Japanese encephalitis (JE) and acute encephalitis syndrome (AES) in the country and, strangely, these diseases usually increase considerably during the pre-monsoon and post-monsoon periods, according to a recent finding of a research team of the Central University of South Bihar (CUSB).
Following a detailed study of the data collected from all the districts of the state for the period of 2009-14, the research team led by CUSB environmental science faculty Pradhan Parth Sarthi concluded that AES usually appears in the month of April and reaches its peak in June, and then declines followed by another peak in October, while JE gains peak in the month of October and declines in November. It was found that diseases are getting peaks either in pre- or post- monsoon season.
Case Fatality Rate (CFR) for AES and JE ranges from 5 to 35 percent in Bihar. Annual incidence rate of AES shows that 1 to 25 persons per one lakh population in each district of Bihar is being affected, while in JE, confirmed cases of annual incidence is 1 to 2 person per lakh population. Approximately, 75 percent districts are reporting JE cases. Districts like Patna, Jehenabad, Nawada, Gaya, Lakhisarai, Gopalganj, Siwan, East Champaran and West Champaran have annual incidence rate ranging from 0.546 to 1.78 per lakh population and are most prone to the JE cases. In the case of AES, Patna, Nalanda, Jehenabad, Nawada, Gaya, Aurangabad, Vaishali, Muzaffarpur, Sheohar and East Champaran have annual incidence rate ranging from 4.7 to 25.0 per lakh population. It may be noticed that Patna, Jehanabad, Nawada, Gaya and East Champaran are the districts which reported maximum number of JE and AES cases in Bihar in the last six years.
Parth Sarthi said that the aim of the study is to assess the status and trends of AES and JE in Bihar so that a policy may be framed for its prevention and control. Other members of the team are Praveen Kumar and Pravin Pisudde.