Encephalitis Kills 17 Children in Northern India

LUCKNOW, India (Reuters) - Seventeen children have died and 78 people have been admitted to hospital after an outbreak of Japanese encephalitis in the northern Indian state of Uttar Pradesh over the past 10 days, officials said on Friday.

State Health Secretary Naresh Dayal said the worst-affected districts were those bordering Nepal, which has also been gripped by the disease.

Dayal said last year 75 people had died from the infection between August and October.

Japanese encephalitis is a viral infection of the brain transmitted by mosquitoes that breed in the summer and rainy seasons.

Children are the most vulnerable to the infection, said Dr. U.K. Misra of the Sanjay Gandhi Post Graduate Institute of Medical Sciences. Symptoms include convulsions, high fever and headache.