Odisha: About five students of residential school test positive for encephalitis; one dead

Japanese encephalitis is a viral brain infection caused by mosquito bites and belongs to the same genus as dengue, yellow fever and West Nile viruses
Pic credits: Edex Live
Pic credits: Edex Live

About five inmates of a residential school at Soro in Odisha's Balasore district have tested positive for encephalitis, doctors informed. Giving more details, Dr Sasanka Sekhar Choudhury of District Headquarters Hospital, Balasore told PTI on Monday, February 20 that about five out of 29 sick girl students, who fell ill in Purubai Kanyashram, residential school have tested positive for encephalitis. 

What is encephalitis? Japanese encephalitis is a viral brain infection caused by mosquito bites and belongs to the same genus as dengue, yellow fever and West Nile viruses.

"Five ailing students have been detected with encephalitis positive from their blood sample test and are under treatment at Balasore district headquarters hospital," he said. Additionally, all other ailing students are symptomatic and under observation. They have been admitted to Balasore hospital said the doctor, adding that on Monday morning, six ailing students were shifted to Balasore from Soro hospital.

How did this happen?

On Friday evening, February 17, three students fell ill at the kanyashram complaining of severe headache, vomiting, loose motion and nausea. Following this, they were first taken to nearby Soro hospital and later shifted to Balasore hospital where one student of Class X died, the official said.


The district administration, on an emergency basis, intiated action to tackle the situation and a team headed by CDMO rushed to the residential school and made necessary arrangements for the treatment of the ailing students. Later on Sunday, the director of public health Dr Niranjan Mishra along with officials visited the residential school and blood samples of all ailing students were sent to SCB Medical College.

Reacting to this, the official said, the incident is taken seriously by the state government because about 103 children had died of Japanese encephalitis (JE) and acute encephalitis syndrome (AES) in September-November 2016 in Odisha's Malkangiri district, as stated in a report by PTI

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