In the month of June this year, encephalitis related deaths in Bihar's Muzaffarpur district grabbed the headlines. Actually, most of the children, who were admitted or died at Shri Krishna Medical College and Hospital (SKMCH), hailed from East Champaran, Vaishali, Sitamarhi and Samastipur apart from Muzaffarpur. Unfortunately, till recently official data on the number of cases and deaths related to Japanese Encephalitis (JE) and Acute Encephalitis Syndrome (AES) was unavailable for...

-The Indian Express Deaths in Muzaffarpur are due to chronic malnutrition Muzaffarpur in Bihar is famous for litchis and infamous for children dying due to annual seasonal brain disease outbreaks. The common brain diseases in children with high mortality are meningitis, encephalitis and encephalopathy. These three have clear-cut differences and very different treatments. Trained paediatricians know how to distinguish the three. If diagnostic criteria are not applied for various reasons, then...

-The Hindu It is imperative to promote community-based care rather than relying only on hospital services The deaths of 154 children in Bihar due to acute encephalitis syndrome (AES) has laid bare the precarious capacity of the State’s healthcare apparatus to handle outbreaks. AES has been linked to two factors: litchi consumption by starving children and a long, ongoing heat wave. As promises of bolstering the health infrastructure are being made, it...

-Newslaundry.com There were those who milked the AES outbreak for TRPs. And there were those who helped out while carrying out their journalistic duties. Even as Bihar mourns the deaths of over 150 children owing to Acute Encephalitis Syndrome (AES), a section of the media milked the grave situation to boost TRPs. Some journalists irresponsibly barged into the ICUs of one of the hospitals treating most of the children for live...

-The Telegraph The team of doctors investigating the deaths found no trace of litchi in at least 40 per cent of children who died A team of doctors investigating the Acute Encephalitis Syndrome (AES) deaths in Muzaffarpur has claimed that the attribution to litchi is likely to be wrong and that it found no trace of litchi in at least 40 per cent of children who succumbed to AES-like symptoms in the...