New Delhi: It’s a possibility that you may not have heard of a viral disease called the Japanese Encephalitis or the summer fever. India has silently witnessed (according to a PTI report) about “1,548 cases across 24 states and union territories in 2024, with Assam accounting for 925 of these cases.” While the Ram Manohar Lohia Hospital, in central Delhi, only confirmed the first case of this viral disease today, internal medicine experts are wary of all mosquito-borne viral diseases suddenly peaking in the Capital region. After all this is breeding season, and we have already had a bad bout of dengue and malaria that has hit us hard, paralysed hospitals, and made life in general uncomfortable.
The man, who was admitted due to severe chest pain, was diagnosed with the uncommon viral disease today. He had been discharged post recovering on November 15 without developing many health complications.
Symptoms of Encephalitis, why AQI may make it worse
It is not a very typical viral disease that one encounters on a daily basis. However, Japanese Encephalitis if not treated on time can progress into something more debilitating. The common symptoms of the disease include:
- As is common with most viral ailments, the infection would more often than not begin with fever accompanied by chills
- Headaches are also seen in some cases
- Nausea and fatigue is also a very common symptom for all viral problems but is accentuated with JE
- In a more serious condition, much like Dengue, even JE can lead to inflammation of the brain (encephalitis)
- Seizures are also noted in some extreme cases
- Patients also sometimes lose consciousness and end up in a comatose state
- Without adequate and quick attention, the patient may slip into a paralysis attack.
However, doctors say that the last four symptoms only manifest itself in severe cases of JE while most people who are infected have mild or no symptoms at all.
The treatment is much in line with other viral diseases. The government of India also has a vaccine for JE that is administered in government hospitals.
It may not be a severe illness, but JE can cause issues in smaller children, especially those with comorbidities. Given that bad air is already making infections and allergies commonplace, the presence of viral diseases like the encephalitis can seriously plague the hospital systems.
Why is nothing been done about mosquito menace
Delhi has been struggling with mosquitos ever since. But nothing much has been done to prevent breeding or to arrest it. There are some areas in the Capital region where mosquito repellent spraying or fogging is not even conducted as a regular exercise. Awareness about mosquito borne diseases is also negligible and home remedy to deal with this menace is not practised by all families.
While the Delhi state government has amped up their efforts to deal with this problem, there are gaps aplenty that still exist. First, fogging as an activity cannot continue with bad AQI also being a growing concern, in lieu of spraying during those days, the government could have come up with other ideas to stop them from breeding or spreading. The use of mosquito nets should also be encouraged and supply chains should have been modified to make it easily available.
Lack of these basic civic measures point towards the abject lackadaisical attitude of the government and administration. While viral diseases are not considered virulent enough to cause major health distress, one has also witnessed what negligence towards a simple virus can lead to. If we don’t want another public health emergency situation to emerge out of the Japanese encephalitis case, all efforts need to be focussed on removing the root cause.
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