New Encephalitis Outbreak in India
Health officials in northern India are battling to confront a new outbreak of encephalitis, a disease that has this year killed at least 350 children in one state alone. Up to 15 children have died in one hospital in the last few days.
Encephalitis, or swelling of the brain, can be caused by both bacterial and viral infection and is common across large swathes of India, especially in the post-monsoon season when mosquitoes are rife.
But the eastern part of Uttar Pradesh (UP), the vast, impoverished state that is home to more than 200m people, has emerged as the ground zero of the condition. Local reports suggest that 50,000 people have died of encephalitis in UP over the past three decades.
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