Re: India Encephalitis 2014 - 14 fatalities
Expert panel recommendations to check mystery fever deaths in eastern UP gets flak
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Author(s): Jyotsna Singh @singh_jyotsna
Date:Mar 10, 2014
Doctors say treatment protocol recommended by expert group may harm patients
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A committee of experts set up last year to look into the deaths of hundreds of children in eastern Uttar Pradesh of brain fever has recommended that every child with symptoms of Japanese Encephalitis (JE) or Acute Encephalitis Syndrome (AES) should be given single dose of the drug Doxycycline in villages where the diseases are endemic. JE is a form of Acute Encephalitis Syndrome and is characterised by inflammation of the brain and high fever.
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The committee's recommendations has, however, drawn flak from some quarters. Even doctors treating patients suffering from AES at Baba Raghav Das (BRD) Medical College of Gorakhpur are critical.
'Doxycycline not a good idea'
?Administering Doxycycline 200 mg to all children with symptoms of JE is not a good idea. Symptoms like high fever exist for many diseases, including viral infection. Doxycycline settles in patients? bones and can harm them. Almost every child who consumes the medicine gets diarrhoea and vomiting. This is one reason why this medicine did not become popular among the locals. These concerns should be addressed before giving Doxycycline to all suspected cases,? says Komal Kushwaha, principal and head of department of paediatrics, BRD Medical College.
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Another major recommendation of the committee to prevent JE and AES is to stop spread of lice by washing clothes in boiling water.
?So far the cause for AES/JE is known in only 11-12 per cent of the cases. For the rest, we still have to continue investigations. In this process we found that one possible agent for JE can be Rickettsia bacteria. Rickettsial infection spreads through head and body lice and there is evidence of large presence of lice in eastern Uttar Pradesh,? says Rao. He, however, says that spread of JE through lice is still to be proven and these are mere indications.
Kushwaha says possibility of Rickettsial infection causing JE is low.
?Rickettsia is found in the winter while JE spreads in monsoon, months preceding winters. This connection is far-fetched,? says Kushwaha.
...
Expert panel recommendations to check mystery fever deaths in eastern UP gets flak
0 Comments
Author(s): Jyotsna Singh @singh_jyotsna
Date:Mar 10, 2014
Doctors say treatment protocol recommended by expert group may harm patients
...
A committee of experts set up last year to look into the deaths of hundreds of children in eastern Uttar Pradesh of brain fever has recommended that every child with symptoms of Japanese Encephalitis (JE) or Acute Encephalitis Syndrome (AES) should be given single dose of the drug Doxycycline in villages where the diseases are endemic. JE is a form of Acute Encephalitis Syndrome and is characterised by inflammation of the brain and high fever.
...
The committee's recommendations has, however, drawn flak from some quarters. Even doctors treating patients suffering from AES at Baba Raghav Das (BRD) Medical College of Gorakhpur are critical.
'Doxycycline not a good idea'
?Administering Doxycycline 200 mg to all children with symptoms of JE is not a good idea. Symptoms like high fever exist for many diseases, including viral infection. Doxycycline settles in patients? bones and can harm them. Almost every child who consumes the medicine gets diarrhoea and vomiting. This is one reason why this medicine did not become popular among the locals. These concerns should be addressed before giving Doxycycline to all suspected cases,? says Komal Kushwaha, principal and head of department of paediatrics, BRD Medical College.
...
Another major recommendation of the committee to prevent JE and AES is to stop spread of lice by washing clothes in boiling water.
?So far the cause for AES/JE is known in only 11-12 per cent of the cases. For the rest, we still have to continue investigations. In this process we found that one possible agent for JE can be Rickettsia bacteria. Rickettsial infection spreads through head and body lice and there is evidence of large presence of lice in eastern Uttar Pradesh,? says Rao. He, however, says that spread of JE through lice is still to be proven and these are mere indications.
Kushwaha says possibility of Rickettsial infection causing JE is low.
?Rickettsia is found in the winter while JE spreads in monsoon, months preceding winters. This connection is far-fetched,? says Kushwaha.
...
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