NEW DELHI: India has reported as many as 148 cases of Acute Encephalitis Syndrome (AES) and 59 deaths among children under 15 years of age till July 31, health officials said on Thursday.These cases of AES have been reported from Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan, and Maharashtra since June.Apart from AES, the Chandipura virus (CHPV) outbreak is also being reported in the country, especially in Gujarat and adjoining areas. So far, 51 cases of Chandipura virus have been reported till July 31, health officials added.Officials added that of the 148 AES cases, 140 are from 24 districts of Gujarat, four are from Madhya Pradesh, three are from Rajasthan, and one is from Maharashtra.Officials said that since July 19, India has been reporting a declining trend of the daily reported new cases of AES. AES refers to an acute onset of fever and clinical neurological manifestations that include mental confusion, disorientation, delirium, or coma, which may occur because of infectious or non-infectious causes.Chandipura Viral Encephalitis (CHPV) is a member of the Vesiculovirus genus of the family Rhabdoviridae. The susceptible age group is children up to 15 years old, with maximum risk for kids under 10. The likely vector of the Chandipura virus is the female phlebotomine sandfly. The symptoms are sudden onset of high fever followed by seizures, altered sensorium, diarrhoea, and vomiting followed by death. No known vaccines or antivirals for the disease are available in the market.The situation of the two outbreaks was reviewed on Thursday, jointly by the Director General of Health Services (DGHS), the Director of the National Center for Disease Control (NCDC), and the Director General (DG) of the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR).Officials from the National Health Mission (NHM), Integrated Disease Surveillance Program (IDSP) units, National Institute of Virology (NIV), Pune, and regional health officials from Rajasthan, Maharashtra, and Gujarat were also present at the meeting.In a statement, the Union Health Ministry said that Gujarat, which is reeling from the AES and Chandipura virus outbreak, has undertaken various public health measures, such as insecticidal spray for vector control, IEC, sensitization of medical personnel, and timely referral of cases to designated facilities.The officials added that a National Joint Outbreak Response Team (NJORT) has also been deployed to assist the Gujarat government in undertaking public health measures and conducting a detailed epidemiological investigation into the outbreak.
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