Raising its head in Bihar’s rural areas for the second time in six months, encephalitis has killed 13 children in Muzaffarpur district in a week. Even as the 13th child succumbed on Tuesday, doctors at the government hospitals were reportedly dismissing the deaths as a result of the rising summer heat.
The frightening spread of encephalitis and cerebral malaria, which together killed 103 children between July and October, underlines what health experts and Opposition leaders have termed as insufficient medical facilities, poverty and lack of hygiene in the state’s rural belts.
In the latest outbreak, the first incident of encephalitis attack was reported in Muzaffarpur on June 2 and currently there were 33 children undergoing treatment at the district hospital and local private medical facilities, said Muzaffarpur civil surgeon Dr A.P. Singh to this newspaper.
“We do not have testing facilities available here to confirm if it is encephalitis. Arrangements are being made to ensure testing for all such cases,” said Dr Singh.
However, Dr Gopal Shankar Sahni of Muzaffarpur’s Sri Krishna Medical college and Hospital (SKMCH), said: “We wonder if it could be encephalitis when there are no paddy fields and waterlogged sites at this time in the affected areas, which are usually the first indications”.
A team of Unicef doctors and caregivers reached Muzaffarpur on Tuesday and met doctors and the young patients. “They (the team) were apprised of the situation and localities facing the outbreak, and they would visit those sites to confirm the nature of the afflictions,” said Dr V. Giri of Kejriwal Hosptal in Muzaffarpur.
Sources said most doctors treating children with fever and diarrhoea symptoms in Muzaffarpur were of the opinion that the rise in summer heat could have caused the ailments. “It is strange how they do not direct their diagnostic methods and treatment at possible encephalitis,” said one health expert.