AGARTALA, July 25 (TIWN): Tripura Health Minister Badal Choudhury today said that the Department is having no reports of further Japanese encephalitis attack. He said that proper steps were taken to check any further aggravation of the situation. Three patients were identified to have contacted the disease till date who were treated at the Agartala Government Medical College (AGMC) and GB Hospital and sent back home, he said.

The minister, however, said that threats of Japanese encephalitis outbreak still persist with large number of passengers coming through rail, road and airways. “Most of passengers who come to Tripura through rail, road or air, come from West Bengal or Assam. And both states are seriously infected with Japanese encephalitis. So there is a threat.

But it is practically impossible to conduct blood test on each and every passenger coming by the buses, planes or the trains”, he said. “Think about the number of vehicles plying through the NH 44 everyday or the number of people travelling through trains”, he quipped. The JE attacks have already killed 102 persons in West Bengal and 43 in Assam.

The Department of Health and Family Welfare, however, issued standard warning over possibilities of the disease outbreak. Director of Family Welfare and Preventive Medicine said that the Agartala Government Medical College is now operating a full fledged ‘mac aliza’ test since 2013. The test is mandatory to diagnose Japanese encephalitis infection. The National Institute of Virology sent few rapid test kitson Tuesday to accelerate the testing process as well. 

Speaking about malaria, Health Minister Choudhury said that there was no further report of death from malaria from anywhere in the state today. The death toll rested at 75 till date. However, 4,293 more called in sick across the state today among whom 685 were diagnosed to have been infected by the malaria parasite.

The total figure of malaria infected persons across the state crossed 39,550 since the beginning of institutional diagnosis and treatment onJune 13. A total of 2 lakh 28 thousand 481 patients were treated in different hospitals, healthcare centers etc since the initial outbreak of malaria in May.

A separate source today said that a recent entomological survey conducted in the state found presence of culex and aedes mosquitos in several parts of the state beside anopheles moqsuitos which are known to be carriers of malaria.