The death toll from the outbreak of Japanese Encephalitis (JE) in Assam rose to 44 on Tuesday, as the disease claimed three more lives in the state over the past 24 hours. While two deaths were recorded in the Nagaon district, Chirang reported one death, the National Health Mission, Assam report stated.
On the other hand, eight fresh cases of JE were reported in the state during the period. Of these, three were from the Nagaon district, two from Tinsukia, and one each from Chirang, Jorhat, and Kamrup districts, the report stated.
A total of 274 cases of the mosquito-borne disease have been recorded in Assam in less than 25 days, the report added.
Several districts of Assam, including Golaghat, Jorhat, Majuli, Sivasagar, Charaideo, Dibrugarh, Lakhimpur, Nagaon, Hojai, Morigaon, Barpeta, Nalbari, Baksa, Chirang and Udalguri have been affected by the outbreak of the disease.
JE is one of the major public health problems in Assam. The disease is transmitted by infected mosquitoes mainly during the monsoon.
House surroundings close to water bodies, rice cultivation, association with pigs, and climatic conditions are environmental factors affecting the abundance of the potential mosquito vectors of the disease.
The NHM has issued a standard operating procedure and guidelines to tackle the situation arising from the outbreak and health workers have been conducting massive awareness campaigns against the disease throughout the state.
At least 40 deaths were reported due to the disease in 2021.