The Yogi Adityanath government in Uttar Pradesh has admitted that in 2017, the number of cases and deaths related to encephalitis disease had increased as compared to 2016.
In 2017, some of the children who died due to the alleged lack of oxygen supply in the Gorakhpur-BRD Hospital tragedy had been admitted because of encephalitis.
According to Economic Times report, over 5,400 cases of Acute Encephalitis Syndrome (AES) and Japanese Encephalitis (JE) disease were reported in UP in 2017. 748 of these cases led to deaths.
In comparison, in the year 2016, a total of 4,353 cases of AES and JE were reported, with deaths reported in 715 of them.
Furthermore, AES accounts for almost 90% of all encephalitis cases and deaths reported in 2016 and 2017.
This year, till August 9, a total of 1,427 AES and JE cases were reported, leading to deaths in 111 cases. Of these 111 deaths, 108 were due to AES and only three due to JE.