Guwahati, May 16 (PTI): Twentysix people have lost their lives in Japanese Encephalitis (JE) and Acute Encephalitis Syndrome (AES) across Assam in this year.
Addressing a press conference here today, the principal secretary in the Health and Family Welfare Department Principal Samir Kumar Sinha said 252 cases of AES and 39 instances of JE have been reported so far in 2017 in Assam.
Of them 17 people have died in AES and nine lost their lives in JE, he said adding the worst affected districts are Jorhat and Sivasagar.Sinha said JE vaccination was the way to stay free of the disease and the government is aggressively working on it.
“We are continuing with the vaccination drive and creating awareness campaign in different districts. We request people not to listen to any rumour regarding the vaccination,” he added.
Sinha urged people to completely ignore the “baseless rumour” that these vaccines will reduce the reproductive capability of the person.
“We are going to write to the DGP about this. We hope the culprit, who started this rumour, will be arrested soon.” Sinha said.
