Epidemiological profile of Japanese encephalitis in Gorakhpur district, Uttar Pradesh, 1982-1988

An in-depth study of Japanese Encephalitis (JE) situation in Gorakhpur district of Uttar Pradesh from 1982-1988 showed increasing trend in the incidence of JE. Total number of annual cases and case fatality rate (CFR) rose from 118 and 23.7 per cent in 1982 to 772 and 32.2 per cent in 1988 respectively. A definite increase was noticed in the number of cases per block following lull years in 1984 and 1987. Among the total affected 1201 villages, 1083 were affected only once. All age groups were affected and the disease showed marked seasonality during August to November. JE, which came in epidemic form in earlier years has established in the area in endemic form.