Five inmates of a residential school at Soro in Odisha’s Balasore district have tested positive for encephalitis, doctors said.
It is worth mentioning that as many as five students have been tested positive for suspected Japanese encephalitis or brain fever cases in Balasore district on Sunday.
Five of out of 29 sick girl students, who fell ill in ‘Purubai Kanyashram’, residential school have tested positive for encephalitis, Dr Sasanka Sekhar Choudhury of District Headquarters Hospital, Balasore told to PTI on Monday.
The Balasore Assistant District Medical Officer (ADMO) said that 25 blood samples of students were tested and reports of five students came positive.
They had been admitted in Soro but have now been shifted to Balasore district headquarter hospital (DHH). It is worth mentioning that, other students do not have symptoms, but shall be kept under observation.
The incident is taken seriously by the state government as as many as 103 children had died of Japanese encephalitis (JE) and acute encephalitis syndrome (AES) in September-November 2016 in Odisha’s Malkangiri district, an official said.
Japanese encephalitis is a viral brain infection caused by mosquito bites and belongs to the same genus as dengue, yellow fever and West Nile viruses.
The typical symptoms of brain fever in children are as follows:
- Sudden high fever.
- Stiff neck.
- Severe headache.
- Nausea or vomiting.
- Confusion or trouble concentrating.
- Seizures.
- Sleepiness or trouble waking.
- Sensitivity to light.
Brain fever is dangerous given the fact that the rapid speed with which the condition of the children worsens soon after the onset of the disease.
The sooner the treatment starts, the better are the chances of recovery or survival in both children and adults.
