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This story is from July 24, 2021

Bihar: 7-year-old girl dies, 4 more children with acute encephalitis syndrome admitted to Muzaffarpur hospital

A seven-year-old girl, identified as Shivani Kumari, died of Acute Encephalitis Syndrome (AES) at Sri Krishna Medical College and Hospital (SKMCH) in Muzaffarpur on Friday, taking the toll this year to 11.
Bihar: 7-year-old girl dies, 4 more children with acute encephalitis syndrome admitted to Muzaffarpur hospital
File photo of Sri Krishna Medical College and Hospital in Muzaffarpur — ANI
PATNA: A seven-year-old girl, identified as Shivani Kumari, died of Acute Encephalitis Syndrome (AES) at Sri Krishna Medical College and Hospital (SKMCH) in Muzaffarpur on Friday, taking the toll this year to 11.
SKMCH superintendent Dr B S Jha said Shivani, a resident of Faridpur village under Sakra block in Muzaffarpur district, was admitted to the facility on July 19. “She was brought to the hospital in a critical condition,” he said.
SKMCH paediatric department head Dr Gopal Sahni said Shivani’s family kept her at their residence for three-four days after she complained of fever and body ache.
They admitted her to Sakra hospital only when her condition deteriorated and showed symptoms of convulsion. She was subsequently referred to the SKMCH on July 19. “She died today despite our best efforts,” Dr Sahni told this newspaper over phone.
According to the hospital authorities, altogether 51 children with symptoms of AES have been admitted there since January this year. Of them, 11 have died.
Dr Jha said four more children with AES symptoms have been admitted in the last 48 hours. Of them, Rajesh Kumar (07) and Shabnam Kumari (08) belong to Goroul and Lalganj in Vaishali district while Sahil (07) and Annu Priya (02) hail from Musahari and Sakra blocks respectively in Muzaffarpur district. They are undergoing treatment at PICU ward of the hospital.
He said three of the four children have been diagnosed as infected with AES. The fourth one is being treated as unknown case of AES. They are undergoing treatment as per the AES protocol, he added.

He said high temperature coupled with humidity in the last few days led to fresh AES cases in the region recently. Awareness campaign has been launched in rural areas to check the spread of the deadly disease.
Since January this year, 51 cases have been reported to the SKMCH. Of them, 39 were the known cases of AES while the remaining 12 were unknown.
Dr Jha, however, said the reported AES cases were far less this year than the previous year. He attributed the reason to awareness campaign and proper surveillance on the residents of the previously affected villages.
A senior administrative officer said DM Pranav Kumar took stock of the situation prevailing in the villages in the district from where the AES cases had been reported earlier.
Muzaffarpur, Vaishali, Sitamarhi, Sheohar, East Champaran and West Champaran districts have been identified as the worst hit as majority of the AES cases were reported from there only.
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