A team of health department officials and representatives of the Jalpaiguri municipality on Saturday visited ward 9 in the town, where a resident was diagnosed with Japanese Encephalitis (JE).
Five persons have been detected with JE in Jalpaiguri district so far this year, and three of them have died.
“A Jalpaiguri resident is infected with JE. He is in a stable condition and returned home today from the hospital. We visited the area today and told the civic body to take all necessary steps so that the infection does not spread in the town,” said Puran Sharma, the additional director of health services.
Ahead of the visit to ward 9, Sharma held a meeting with officials of the civic body’s health department.
“The civic authorities will take steps to remove piggeries. Those who run the piggeries will be provided with 48 hours to relocate the animals. Public announcements will be made in this regard,” said a source at the municipality.
Sources in the health department said those who were infected with JE were from Sadar and Rajganj blocks and the Jalpaiguri town.
“ASHA workers have been asked to conduct a fever survey in wards, and in case anybody has symptoms of JE, the patient should be taken to the health centre for examination of blood,” said Sharma.
After the meeting, the civic authorities said they would take immediate steps to clean the drains and accumulated water in the town.
“The state animal resource department (ARD) has been asked to monitor the piggeries. If any pig is found infected with JE, it should be killed to avoid the spread of the infection,” said a civic official.
Subodh Pal, a deputy director of the ARD department, said that as they had learnt that a JE patient was found in the town, an instruction was given to cover the piggeries with nets.
“Blood samples of pigs have been collected from the area where the infection has been reported and sent the same for tests to Calcutta and Bhopal,” he said.