Deaths of Acute Encephalitis Syndrome (AES) patients at Gorakhpur’s Baba Raghav Das Medical College, which serves as the only referral hospital for most people in a region racked by the infection, have been between 15% and 29% of all cases over a span of eight years, official records accessed by The Hindu show.
Data from 2007 till 2014 shows that the case fatality rate has been an average of 21% over eight years, which is not considered alarming for the area. Caused by the Japanese encephalitis virus, scrub typhus or other bacterial, viral or fungal infections, the number of cases of AES has been high for many years now.
According to official records, a total of 2,424 cases of AES were recorded in 2007. Of these, 510 patients or 21.03% died. The number of cases fluctuated over the next few years. A total of 2,195 cases and 457 deaths or 20.82% CFR was recorded in 2008. The cases increased to 2,663 in 2009, with 517 deaths or 19.39% CFR. In 2010, the cases shot up to 3,307, while the number of deaths was lower at 514, making the CFR the lowest in eight years — 15.56%. A total of 3,308 cases and 625 deaths, and a CFR of 18.82%, were recorded in 2011. The number of cases dropped in 2012, with 2,517 total AES cases and 521 deaths, which was 20.69% CFR.
‘20 deaths every day’
Though these figures pertain to all wards and units of the medical college, a senior paediatric doctor at the hospital said about 85% of the cases would be children. The mortality rate of children, particularly encephalitis patients, at the medical college has been at the centre of a scandal, after 60 children died in a span of five days starting August 7. About 30 of the deaths occurred within 48 hours. According to officials at the medical college, 20 deaths are recorded every day on an average.
Five doctors at the medical college that The Hindu spoke to said that the number of deaths of encephalitis patients, especially children, had hovered around 20% of all patients in the past few years. According to a senior paediatric doctor, the children who end up at BRD Medical College are usually in a very serious condition when they reach.
