After the Deluge, an Epidemic
At least 200 people have died of encephalitis in the last two weeks in India’s northeastern Assam state, the state health minister said Tuesday.
Assam was hit by devastating floods in the middle of July, and many parts of the state remain waterlogged, creating the breeding conditions for the mosquitoes that spread the disease.
More than 600 people suffering from the brain inflammation are packed into hospitals throughout the state, Assam Health Minister Bhumidhar Burman said.
The floods, caused by overflowing rivers swollen by monsoon rains, inundated more than half of Assam and displaced 10% of the state’s 26 million people.
Burman said the government has sent several tons of medicine and vaccines to hospitals, as well as medical teams to reinforce rural operations. UNICEF and the Red Cross also have sent medicine.
The monsoon season normally runs from July to September. This year’s monsoon has been erratic, dropping little or no rain over vast areas of India and triggering drought while causing horrific flooding in the northeast.
Since mid-July, floods, disease and landslides have caused nearly 850 deaths in Assam and the northeastern state of Bihar as well as in Nepal and Bangladesh.
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