A 34-year-old resident of Thakurpukur, India, last week died from encephalitis, marking the first falality in 10 years from the disease there, health officials said.

Officials at the School of Tropical Medicine (STM) said that the patient died from Japanese encephalitis, a relatively rare form the the disease.

Proloy Chowdhury, of Sabarpara Road, had tested positive for encephalitis in the confirmatory IgM test. The blood sample was tested on August 28 and the report dated on September 9.

Despite the IgM report, chief civic health officer DebDwaipayan Chattopadhyay tried to play down the disease. “STM papers mention pneumonia as the cause of death. The patient was suffering from Japanese Encephalitis a month ago.”

Doctors, however, pointed out that pneumonia could have been a symptom of encephalitis.

Chowdhury, who worked at an optician’s shop in Behala, had been suffering from fever and convulsions over the past three months. “He was admitted to a local nursing home twice in mid-July but the fever did not subside,” said Ajay Chatterjee, his brother-in-law.

Chowdhury’s sister Pinki Halder said he was bed-ridden since September. He was shifted to the Mission of Mercy Hospital on September 18 and School of Tropical Medicine on October 3. Family members claimed Chowdhury had contracted the disease in the city.

– by Gene J. Koprowski, Editorial Director

Posted: October 13th, 2008 under Diseases, Encephalitis.
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More than 50 horses have died in Florida this year from the most devastating outbreak in recent years of an infection spread by mosquitos called Eastern equine encephalitis, according to media reports.Thus far, no humans have been infected, but the state confirmed 56 cases of Eastern equine encephalitis in horses as of this month.

Animals from Orange, Volusia, Lake, Osceola and Polk counties were among the infected beasts. By contrast, there were 18 cases in horses during all of 2007, and 17 in 2006.

“This infection is almost always fatal,” said Dr. Michael Short, a veterinarian and equine program manager with the Florida Department of Agriculture. “These horses get very sick, very fast. It’s horrible.” The disease is caused by the Eastern equine virus, which is transmitted by mosquitoes and passed to people or animals through bites. EEE always exists at some level in Florida’s insect population, but it tends to spike in July and August, doctors said.

– by Gene J. Koprowski, Editorial Director

Posted: July 22nd, 2008 under Diseases, Encephalitis.
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