Karnataka’s State Health Minister K Sudhakar said on Sunday that a special vaccination campaign will be held to immunize an estimated 48 lakh kids between the ages of 1 and 15 against Japanese Encephalitis (JE).
Karnataka’s State Health Minister K Sudhakar said on Sunday that a special vaccination campaign will be held to immunize an estimated 48 lakh kids between the ages of 1 and 15 against Japanese Encephalitis. The Jenvac vaccination will be provided for the campaign by the Union Health Ministry.
A special vaccination drive will be conducted to vaccinate 48 lakh kids between the ages of 1 and 15 against Japanese Encephalitis (JE). The campaign will start on December 5 and will last for three weeks. The decision was made since cases of Japanese encephalitis are on the rise.
Health minister K Sudhakar stated that in India, JE is one of the most frequent causes of encephalitis, with 68,000 cases recorded annually. The mortality rate is between 20 and 30 % among them. 30 to 50 % of those who receive a cure suffer lifelong physical and mental impairments including sensory and motor dysfunction.
Vaccinations will be largely concentrated in Private and Government schools in the first week of December. Then, in the following two weeks, they will concentrate on immunization efforts in healthcare facilities, Anganwadi centres and among communities, he said.
Districts in which JE campaigns are conducted
In a few districts in Karnataka -Ballari, Mandya, Chitradurga, Koppal, Raichur, Vijayapur, Chikkaballapur, Kolar, Dharwad, and Davanagere, the first dose of the JE vaccine is administered to infants at the age of 9 months. The second dose is provided at the age of 1.5 years. They have been designated as the 10 endemic districts for this virus under the State’s universal immunisation programme.
According to a directive from the Union Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, additional JE programmes are run throughout the JE non-transmission period in the districts of Bagalkot, Dakshina Kannada, Haveri, Gadag, Hassan, Udupi, Tumkur, Kalaburgi and Yadgiri. Children aged 1 to 15 years will get one dose of the JE vaccination as part of this programme.
Japanese Encephalitis
Japanese Encephalitis is a viral infection of the brain caused by mosquito bites. The flavivirus, which is the virus that causes the JE, is mostly spread by Culex mosquitoes. Pigs and wild birds serve as the virus’s amplifier hosts and are maintained in those animals. The host that leads nowhere, is the man.
The majority of those who get the Japanese Encephalitis virus have either no symptoms or mild symptoms that are frequently mistaken for the flu. However, when the infection advances to the brain, around 1 in every 250 persons experience more severe symptoms. According to WHO common symptoms of JE include headache, fever, mental confusion and changes in behavioural patterns.
Although symptomatic JE is uncommon in India, the case-fatality rate for individuals who get encephalitis can reach 30%. While lasting neurological or psychological consequences may develop in 30% to 50% of encephalitis patients.
According to Sudhakar, our Health Department is completely equipped to fight against JE at this time. He urges everyone to come together and join the fight against encephalitis so that we can shield the next generation from its damaging consequences.
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