Local newspapers report that the death toll could be much higher, as many casualties are going unreported, according to The Associated Press
"The government is talking about the death of children in government hospitals. What about the children who died in private nursing homes or in villages without medicines?" asks Dr. Radha Mohan Agarwal, an opposition lawmaker and a leading pediatrician in Gorakhpur, the largest city in the worst-affected eastern flank of Uttar Pradesh state.
Japanese encephalitis is caused by a mosquito-borne virus that attacks the brain. Symptoms of the disease start with a very high fever, followed by seizures, vomiting, then vomiting of blood. Eventually, victims can fall into a coma. Behavioral changes and delirium also often occur.
"I can officially confirm the death of 79 children from encephalitis. At least 182 children are admitted in different government hospitals," O.P. Singh, the state director-general of health, says by telephone from Gorakhpur, 155 miles southeast of Lucknow, the state capital. More than 100 more children are in serious condition, he says.
Encephalitis kills dozens of people each year in Uttar Pradesh, India's largest state, where health services are poor. According to official estimates, about 3,500 people have died of encephalitis in the state over the past 25 years.
