Last week, four people died due to infection with the Japanese encephalitis (JE) virus transmitted by the bite of an infected mosquito of the Culex species. The death toll from Japanese encephalitis has reached 12 in three months.

 The latest data shows that the infection of JE has spread to 24 districts of Nepal . The number of infections has also reached 63. According to the Family Welfare Division of the Health Service Department, Chitwan has the highest number of deaths with 3 people, Arghakhanchi, Morang, Bara, Jhapa, Nawalparasi West, Kailali, Tehrathum and Pyuthan one each. The health service department has not revealed the district of one person who died.

Last year, 25 people died from this disease, including one from Kathmandu Valley. 86 people were infected and it spread as an outbreak in 2005. At that time, 2 thousand people lost their lives . The number of infections and deaths from JE is increasing alarmingly. Outbreaks of this deadly disease have been observed in seven provinces across the country.

Head of the Child Health and Immunization Branch of the Family Welfare Division of the Department of Health Services. According to Abhiyan Gautam, officially 63 infected people have been found this year, but the actual number may be higher. It is spreading. Those who die due to infection are people from 8 years old to 85 years old . Among the people who died, pneumonia and other infections were also observed along with oats, he said, "The people who died were more likely to not have been vaccinated against JE." Most deaths have occurred in Chitwan. The number of infections is also high there.' Dr. Gautam's suggestion is .

Children are most at risk from this disease. Keeping this in mind, the government has been regularly giving the vaccine against oats in the 12 months after birth since 2015. However, according to the data of the Department of Health Services, the age group above 15 years is more among the deaths this year . Which indicates that unvaccinated adults are at high risk .

dr. According to Gautam, even adults can be vaccinated against JE . But wearing it today does not mean it will be safe from tomorrow. It takes about a month for the vaccine to work,'' he said, 'so now the best way is to avoid mosquito bites.' Pigs and ducks have high JE loads. Therefore, if the animal bites a person, it will be transmitted,'' he said, "but, if a mosquito bites, not everyone will be infected." If 250 people are bitten in a village, only 1 person has a serious problem . However, as 30 percent of patients with severe infection may die, it is very deadly. According to him, if a mosquito that bites an infected person bites another person, it will not be transmitted.

According to the World Health Organization, about one-third of patients who are seriously infected with this virus die. Even among survivors, it causes severe lifelong disability .

Infectious disease specialist Dr. According to Sher Bahadur Pun, there is no definite cure for this disease. "It is appropriate to run a vaccination campaign in the affected districts," he said. Dr. Rameshkant Adhikari said that immediately provision should be made to identify the children who missed vaccination against oats and distribute them to those under 5 years of age . "We had to make arrangements to provide good health treatment to the infected," he said.

Although it is a serious disease, the government does not have a vaccine available for adults to prevent it, nor has there been a concrete initiative to implement an action plan designed to control mosquitoes . The local level, which is directly connected with the people, has not been able to play a significant role in controlling mosquitoes. According to the officials of the Department of Health Services, about one and a half billion rupees is needed to purchase the vaccine to reach five million people. However, the government does not have a budget. None of the charities are in favor of helping .

Head of Child Health and Vaccination Branch Dr. Abhiyaan Gautam said that he has already corresponded with GAVI (Global Alliance for Vaccines and Immunization) to provide vaccine with subsidy. However, Gabi is not accepting to repeat the vaccination campaign once. We are making a request,' he said, 'We are also discussing prevention with the World Health Organization officials.'

is spread in Jai Morang, Bara, Jhapa, Saptari, Sirha, Sarlahi, Parsa, Nawalparasi East/West, Sindhuli, Bardia, Kailali, Chitwan, Arghakhanchi, Tehrathum, Pyuthan . Dang, Gulmi, Kapilvastu, Rautahat, Dhanusha, Ilam, Jumla, Udaipur and other districts of JE infection have also been observed.

Ministry of Health and Population spokesperson Dr. Prakash Budhathoki said that there is 500,000,000 vaccine against din zai in the 12 months after the birth of the child and it is enough for this year . Even if adults are given the vaccine immediately, it takes at least 4-5 weeks for the vaccine to work. Now, rather than vaccinating adults, it is more appropriate to conduct a 'search and destroy mosquito larvae' campaign," he said, adding that the main weapon to control mosquitoes is "search and destroy". The most important role in this is the local level, toll development organization and farmers.

He said that if everyone takes initiative from their own area, if mosquitoes can be controlled, the oat disease will automatically be controlled. "The Ministry of Agriculture and Livestock had to play a role in cleaning and improving the farm of livestock and poultry such as boars, pigs and ducks and vaccinating these livestock against this disease," he said.

Animal Services Department Director Ram Nandan Tiwari said that due to the increase in oat infection, a team with technicians is being sent to inspect the status of livestock farms in the affected districts. "We also allocate budget to the provincial and local levels every year to improve the farm," he said, "especially the local levels that are directly connected with the farmers should monitor ". To control the growth and development of mosquitoes, the Ministry of Health, the Ministry of Water Supply, the Department of Water Supply and Sewerage Management etc. have been made responsible for improving the practice of storing water.

Similarly, door-to-door program, display of banners and posters at square and strategic places and miking, monitoring and regulation of places such as underground parking lot, under-construction building, disorderly garage, kavadikhana etc. have been given to the local level, toll development organization and other concerned bodies to raise awareness of mosquito-borne diseases.

Prabhat Kumar Jha, the spokesperson of the road department, said that they have been working regularly by allocating a budget every year to repair road potholes. "Some of the roads are under the local government," he said, "sometimes the water supply and sometimes the sewerage management department digs the roads and there are potholes." This mosquito is more active in the morning, evening and night. If this virus is infected, severe headache, high fever, fainting, vomiting, throat pain (hardness), tremors, paralysis, and coma will occur. According to the Ministry of Health and Population, symptoms may appear within 5 to 15 days after being bitten by an infected mosquito. Oats do not pass from one person to another . It is not transmitted to humans by touching infected animals or eating animal products.