AES outbreak: 2 more casualties reported from Muzaffarpur
With two more child deaths reported from Muzaffarpur on Sunday, the total death toll in Bihar due to acute encephalitis syndrome (AES) has swelled to 152. Authorities and officials on Sunday had claimed a decline in casualties with the onset of rains in the state.
The new casualties were reported from SK Medical College and Hospital. According to the figures released by the district administration, 431 children, including two in the past 12 hours, have been admitted for AES treatment since June 1.
The total number of AES patients who have died at the SKMCH is 110.
"There is a perceptible decline in the number of children who are being admitted with brain fever as also the number of deaths," hospital superintendent Sunil Kumar Shahi said.
"It has always been observed that AES strikes at the peak of summer and the outbreak halts with the onset of rains," he said.
Two fresh cases have been registered, one on Saturday and another on Sunday, Shahi said.
Besides the SKMCH, the Kejriwal hospital in the Muzaffarpur town has so far registered 162 AES cases and 20 casualties.
Out of the total 152 deaths due to brain fever across 20 districts in Bihar, 130 deaths were reported at the two Muzaffarpur-based hospitals, which have been admitting AES patients from nearly half a dozen districts in its proximity.
Bhimsen Kumar, a senior resident doctor posted at the Patna Medical College Hospital, was also suspended for allegedly failing to comply with the direction to report for emergency duty at the SKMCH.
Meanwhile, a huge chunk of plaster fell off the ceiling at the SKMCH in the afternoon and came crashing down on the ground, barely a few feet away from a patients' ward.
Nobody was injured in the incident, which took place a day after human skeletal remains were found strewn near a garbage dump close to the hospital building.
Experts attribute the deaths to hypoglycemia which typically affects malnourished children below the age of 15 years and said to be triggered by consumption of unripe lychees -- a fruit grown in abundance in Bihar. The fruit contains a high concentration of a toxin that causes blood-sugar levels to fall sharply.
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