Malkangiri, Oct 13: As 50 children have died till now in 34 days in Malkangiri district due to Japanese Encephalitis (JE), the district administration has continued to take steps towards sanitation in the affected villages.
Today, to review the situation, Arti Ahuja, Health Secretary visited the affected areas. After the visit she informed that to keep pigs away from the villages, special enclosures have been built by the Fisheries and Animal Resources Development (F&ARD) and proper arrangements towards feeding the pigs has also been taken. To keep mosquitos away from the areas, fogging is also frequently being carried out at both, the villages and enclosures.
9454 pigs have been transferred to the special enclosures out of the affected areas, out of which 7040 pigs are kept at 104 government enclosures and rest 2414 pigs are being kept in 36 private enclosures. Regular health checkup of the pigs is also being carried out by Veterinary doctors and Livestock inspectors. Blood sample has been collected from the pigs for testing. Along with this, in the border areas, 17 Veterinary doctors and 60 para-Veterinary staffs have been deployed at four check posts, informed, Bishnupada Sethi, F & ARD secretary.
Sethi further informed that the Centre for Animal Disease Research and Diagnosis where the blood samples were sent for analysis has decided that instead of culling the pigs infected with the JE virus, they should be separated from human areas. He also said that alternative steps instead of culling of pigs will be found out and alternative livelihood measures will be taken for the owner whose pigs have been culled as pig rearing is a major source of livelihood of the people in Malkangiri.
