Balasore: The crisis over the suspected outbreak of Japanese encephalitis at the Gandhi Seva Sangh governed Purubai Kanyashram in the Soro area of Odisha’s Balasore district deepened with the condition of five more girls suffering from the infection being shifted from the Soro Hospital to the ICU of the Balasore DHH on Tuesday night.
With the admission of these five girls to the Balasore DHH ICU, the total number of the school’s inmates in intensive care rose to 16. Four ailing students were admitted to the hospital’s ICU at 11:00 pm on Monday.
Altogether 29 students of the residential school fell ill last week and one among them succumbed to her ailment at the Soro Hospital last week. Thereafter, blood samples of 28 students were sent to Cuttack for examination and five of these tested positive for “viral encephalitis.”
While the authorities, including Dr Niranjan Mishra, Director of Public Health, have ruled out the claim the students of Purubai Kanyashram were suffering from Japanese encephalitis, they are yet to ascertain the nature of the infection.
“The Paediatric Department of Balasore Medical College has opined that it is some type of viral encephalitis. There can be several causes for viral encephalitis. As of now, we cannot confirm what kind of outbreak it is,” said Dr Mishra on Tuesday.
Contrary to Dr Mishra’s claim that all those who have tested positive are “doing well,” the condition of more students is becoming critical with each passing day. The admission of five more ailing students to the ICU on Tuesday night bears testimony to this.
Meanwhile, several officials, including CDMO Dulal Sen, visited the ailing students since the outbreak of the viral infection, the authorities have cleaned the Purubai Kanyashram premises and fixed the sanitary system at the residential school following allegations that the environment there was not conducive for good health.
