Japanese Encephalitis has claimed its first victim in the city in 10 years, with a 34-year-old resident of Thakurpukur succumbing to the disease at the School of Tropical Medicine (STM) on Thursday.

Proloy Chowdhury, of Sabarpara Road, had tested positive for Japanese Encephalitis in the confirmatory IgM test. The blood sample was tested on August 28 and the report issued on September 9.

Despite the IgM report, chief civic health officer DebDwaipayan Chattopadhyay did not admit that Chowdhury had died of Japanese Encephalitis. “STM papers mention pneumonia as the cause of death. The patient was suffering from Japanese Encephalitis a month ago.”

Experts, however, pointed out that pneumonia could have been a symptom of Japanese Encephalitis.

Chowdhury, who worked at an optician’s shop in Behala, had been suffering from fever and convulsions over the past three months. “He was admitted to a local nursing home twice in mid-July but the fever did not subside,” said Ajay Chatterjee, Chowdhury’s brother-in-law.

Chowdhury’s sister Pinki Halder said he was bed-ridden since September. He was shifted to the Mission of Mercy Hospital on September 18 and School of Tropical Medicine on October 3. Family members claimed Chowdhury had contracted the disease in the city as he had never moved out in the past few years.

Residents of Chowdhury’s locality alleged that the Calcutta Municipal Corporation (CMC) had suspended the vector-control drive.

“The civic body has not sprayed larvicide in the area over the past year,” said Bipat Taran Pal, a neighbour.

The chief civic health officer claimed that the vector-control wing had been directed to carry out a survey and spray larvicide in Thakurpukur.

According to experts, Japanese Encephalitis has a mortality rate of almost 60 per cent. “Japanese Encephalitis is a member of the Flaviviridae virus family and is transmitted by the vector Culex vishnui. Domestic pigs and wild birds carry the virus,” said an entomologist.

Vaccination is the only prevention. The state health department had taken up a vaccination programme in Burdwan in 2006. The drive is now on in East and West Midnapore.