365Telugu.com Online News, Hyderabad, September 20, 2022:Japanese Encephalitis is a disease caused by a virus, and spread from infected pigs to human beings by mosquitoes. It is mainly/exclusively a rural area disease. It affects mainly children between 1 to 15 years of age. Most of the children either don’t develop symptoms or develop mild symptoms. One child out of every three hundred children can develop Encephalitis (the virus affects the brain).
20 to 50 out of every 100 children affected with Encephalitis die. Many of the kids who survive end up with long term sequelae like seizures, paralysis, and loss of intellectual function. There is no specific medicine as such available to treat this disease. All treatment is supportive only (eg. seizures’ medicines for seizures, ventilation if the child is not able to breathe etc).
Vaccine is available for this disease. If you are planning rural area visits(especially where pigs and rice fields are there) to Japanese Encephalitis endemic areas during the monsoons and during the post monsoon period, please do discuss with your child’s pediatrician about Japanese Encephalitis vaccine. You need to get it done preferably 3 weeks to 4 weeks prior to the visit.
I have shared a map of India depicting Japanese Encephalitis endemic areas in Green. If you are a regular visitor to rural areas marked in this map of India/if you reside in the rural areas,pls do discuss with the pediatrician about this vaccine.-Dr Sivaranjani Santosh