Year after 164 children died of AES, Bihar reports fresh case

In June 2019, Muzaffarpur witnessed the death of 164 children due to acute encephalitis syndrome, most occurring at the government hospital, prompting the Centre and the Bihar governement to announce a number of preventive measures.

Even as doctors at the state-run Sri Krishna Medical College and Hospital (SKMCH) in Muzaffarpur grapple with the coronavirus outbreak, two new cases of children showing symptoms of acute encephalitis syndrome (AES) have sent them into a tizzy.

File photo of an overcrowded ward of SKMC Hospital in Bihar’s Muzaffarpur where children suffering from Acute Encephalitis Syndrome were treated last year. (Parwaz Khan /HT File Photo)

In June 2019, Muzaffarpur witnessed the death of 164 children due to AES, most occurring at the government hospital, prompting the Centre and the state to announce a number of preventive measures.

Of the two children admitted on Friday, a three-and-half-year old boy of Baiju Bujurg Village under Sakara block of Muzaffarpur district has tested positive for AES while the reports of another child, who was brought from Motihari Sadar hospital of East Champaran district, are awaited.

“Both the children are being treated at the paediatric intensive care unit (PICU),” said hospital’s paediatric department head Dr Gopal Shankar Sahni.