Guwahati, Jun 24: Japanese Encephalitis (JE) and Acute Encephalitis Syndrome (AES) have claimed at least 60 lives in Assam this year, an official said on Wednesday.
The National Health Mission, Assam official told PTI that 15 people have lost their lives due to JE and 45 died because of AES in different districts of the state since January.
The JE deaths were reported from Baksa, Cachar, Chirang, Kamrup Metropolitan, Tamulpur, Barpeta, Jorhat, Lakhimpur and Kamrup districts, he added.
“On the other hand, the AES deaths have taken place in Baksa, Cachar, Chirang, Goalpara, Morigaon, Sivasagar, Tamulpur, Udalguri, West Karbi Anglong, Darrang, Dhubri, Kokrajhar, South Salmara-Mankachar, Tinsukia, Charaideo, Kamrup Metropolitan, Barpeta, Jorhat, Kamrup and Lakhimpur,” the official said.
In this season, 56 people have tested positive for Japanese Encephalitis, while the number of AES cases is around 500, he added.
When contacted, NHM Assam Executive Director Abhijit Sarma said, “AES and JE are two different clinical entities. While JE is one of the causes of AES, not all AES cases are JE cases.”
The Assam government has been proactively undertaking extensive preparedness measures for the AES-JE season, which generally extends from June to August every year, he added.
“Since February 2026, multiple initiatives have been implemented to strengthen surveillance, case management, hospital preparedness, vaccination activities and inter-departmental coordination across the state,” Sarma said.
The NHM has identified and trained nodal medical officers, deployed district coordinators, disseminated guidelines and SOPs, strengthened referral mechanisms, ensured availability of essential medicines and expanded JE vaccination coverage, he added. (PTI)
