Eight people, including six children, have died of Japanese Encephalitis in Jorhat district in the past three months.
Dr Nilotpal Bhattacharjee, deputy superintendent, Jorhat Medical College and Hospital (JMCH), said that six children had died of Japanese Encephalitis in the paediatric ward of the hospital since April.
One had died in April, one in May and four in June.
“At present there are five adults admitted in the hospital suffering from fever out of which four have tested positive for JE and are being monitored by the medicine department. In the paediatric ward out of seven children admitted with fever and symptoms of JE, two have tested positive,” he said.
The patients hail from four districts Majuli, Sivasagar, Golaghat and Jorhat.
There have been a total of 43 cases of acute encephalitis syndrome (AES) in the hospital since January this year but there have been no deaths.
As per reports two other persons Noorie Khatun, 18, of Nakachari Deberabapara and Pabitra, 58, of Kasogoral in the district have died in May and June, respectively.
These two deaths, however, were not in JMCH and probably occurred in private hospitals.