*Encephalitis Death toll approaches 400*

By Ram Dutt Triphati
BBC News, Lucknow

Nearly 400 people are known to have died from encephalitis this year in
the Indian state of Uttar Pradesh and neighbouring areas, officials say.

But they say that mass vaccinations have kept the figure much lower than
2005, when nearly 1,600 children died.

Nearly 10 million children were given a vaccine this year to protect
them from Japanese Encephalitis (JE).

It normally spreads from mosquito bites and can result in death or brain
damage and paralysis.

Laboratory problem

The Uttar Pradesh Health Minister, Anant Kumar Mishra, and the state's
top health official, Arun Kumar Mishra, visited the worst affected areas
last week.

Officials say 386 people have died in hospital this year. Of these, 339
are from Uttar Pradesh, 44 from Bihar state and three from Nepal.

They say that Japanese Encephalitis has accounted for only one in six
cases this year.

However, they have not been able to identify the encephalitis strains in
other cases.

Uttar Pradesh has no laboratory facilities to examine the viruses, so
they have sent samples to the National Institute of Virology in Pune in
Maharashtra state.

The Uttar Pradesh authorities came under heavy criticism in 2005 for
what was seen as their lax response to the outbreak of the disease.

Annual floods and water logging are main factors in the increase of the
mosquito population in Uttar Pradesh.

Deforestation and increasing sugar cane farming have added to the problem.