**Malkangiri:** A game of death is on spree in Malkangiri District Headquarters Hospital with the deadly disease JE spreading its tentacles over three more children increasing the death toll to 65 in 44 days.
A two year old boy, Sujit Betti of Uskapalli village and a 4-year-old girl, Gayatri Peda of Sindhiguda village succumbed to this killer disease in the hospital on Saturday morning. Another 4-year-old, Chumki Padiami was declared dead after being brought to the hospital.
A special 6-member Central Team has reached the spot to investigate the matter in this zone. The team is led by Dr.Kalpana Barua, Joint Director (Anatomies), Dr. B.Patra, Consultant, (NHML), Dr. Akash Srivastava, Joint Director, (Epitamaology), Dr Mayuri Rani, Assistant Director, (Micro-Biology), Dr. D Bhattacharya, Scientist (Virology), Dr Sushma Chowdhary, NCDC, Delhi.
On Thursday evening, three of its members had reached the place to take stock of the situation. They had a discussion with the existing doctors, too. The next morning, they were joined by the rest of the three members.
“The cause of the deaths and the spread of this deadly virus in this area is our main concern. We will submit a report only after a detailed investigation,” informed Dr. Akash Srivastava, Joint Director, (Epitamaology).
The team has been visiting several villages and plan to visit all the affected villages in Malkangiri district. They are here to make a detailed investigation over the issue.
