The death toll due to Japanese Encephalitis in Odisha's Malkangiri climbed to 46 today, prompting the authorities to initiate preventive measures in the unaffected areas even as show cause notices were issued to 22 officers in the tribal district for "dereliction of duty".
The toll due to Japanese Encephalitis (JE), which stood at 42 yesterday, climbed to 46 following the death of four more children at the district headquarters hospital here, said a statement from the district Collector's office here.
Unconfirmed reports, however, put the toll at 48 due to the vector-borne disease which has affected at least 22 villages spread over six blocks in the backward district.
At least 37 people are undergoing treatment at the district headquarters hospital with four of them in the ICU, Malkangiri District Collector K Sudarshan Chakravarthy said, adding that so far, 79 people have been discharged from the hospital after treatment.
As many as 162 JE patients have so far been admitted to the district headquarters hospital here since the outbreak of the disease about 35 days ago, officials said.
Meanwhile, more specialists, including five from Bhubaneswar, six from Berhampur and three from Cuttack, have reached the district to assist the doctors and experts already engaged in tackling the situation, officials said.
As the entire administration geared up to deal with the situation, the Collector today issued show cause notices to 22 nodal officers in the district for "dereliction of duty", a senior official said.
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As many as 64 nodal officers were assigned the task of supervising the distribution of mosquito nets in the affected villages and isolation of the infected pigs.
The officials were asked to submit reports to the Collector on the job done.
Of them, 22 were issued show cause notices as they failed to submit their reports within the stipulated time, the Collector said.
Meanwhile, Odisha Health Secretary Arti Ahuja visited the adjoining districts of Koraput and Malkangiri and underlined the need to step up the preventive measures in the unaffected areas.
At Koraput, she interacted with the officials of all the departments concerned and discussed the required preventive measures to ensure that the disease did not spread to the district.
It was decided to set up checkposts along the areas bordering Malkangiri to restrict the entry of pigs into human habitats, while the officials were asked to undertake awareness drives.
