Six more children fell prey in the last 24 hours to the Acute Encephalitis Syndrome (AES) in Bihar's Muzaffarpur district with the toll having now risen to 19 as the disease continues its onslaught.
"We have lost six more children to AES. More cases are expected as experience tells us that the outbreak will continue so long as the hot and humid weather continues to provide an ideal environment for its proliferation," said Muzaffarpur Civil Surgeon Dr Gyan Bhushan.
"All our doctors and attendants are making all out efforts to treat the children. It is due to their hard work that we have been able to bring down the death rate of AES to 26 per cent.
"It was 31 per cent in 2013, 33 per cent in 2012 and 37 per cent in 2011. Still we have a long way to go as, in the absence of the identification of the virus, we cannot ensure a definitive line of treatment," added Bhushan.
Meanwhile, thirty more cases of the disease have come to light, taking the number of children admitted to the Sri Krishna Memorial College and Hospital and the Kejriwal Hospital in Muzaffarpur to 74.
Worried over the deaths, Chief Minister Jitan Ram Manjhi has said he would visit Muzaffarpur to take stock of the situation and review the facilities first-hand.
