Siliguri:
Five persons have died of Japanese Encephalitis in the North Bengal Medical College (NBMC) Hospital in Siliguri in the past 24 hours, taking the total number of deaths in the state since January to 31, a senior official of the Health Department said today.
The five, who were under treatment at the hospital in Siliguri for the past several days, turned critical yesterday and showed symptoms of frequent convulsions and high fever, he said.
19 persons have died of the mosquito-borne disease since July 1 at the hospital. 31 died since the outbreak of the disease in January first week, the official added.
Altogether 38 persons are now undergoing treatment, he said, adding, patients were from Jalpaiguri and Darjeeling district.
The hospital authorities recently opened a 16-bed special ward for Japanese Encephalitis patients but with the number of cases on the higher side, the hospital has to refer some patients, afflicted with the disease, to other wards, the official said.