Gaya, Oct. 2: The number of deaths in suspected encephalitis case has gone up to 53 after two more children died at Anugrah Narayan Magadh Medical College and Hospital (ANMMCH) on Saturday.

This year, the death toll has surpassed all records. In 2008, 49 children had died of suspected encephalitis at ANMMCH, while 46 deaths were recorded in 2009 and in 2007 it stood at 29.

The doctors are apprehensive that more cases of suspected encephalitis might come up in future because the inflow of patients suffering from the disease has not stopped at ANMMCH. Since the first child suspected of suffering from encephalitis was admitted at ANMMCH on August 23, the number of registrations has gone up to 222, which includes four new admissions today.

Till today, 56 children were getting treatments at ANMMCH. So far, 84 patients have been released from the hospital after being cured. Ajay Kishore Ravi, the head of department, paediatrics, ANMMCH, is of the view that if one case of Japanese Encephalitis is detected, it means nearly 500 children in the society have sub-clinical unapparent infection. He said according to an estimate, nearly 50,000 children could be infected from the virus that causes encephalitis.

According to the IgM capture test conducted recently at the microbiology department of ANMMCH, 23 out of 150 children have been detected with Japanese Encephalitis positive. However, IgM capture test is the most basic test for encephalitis. A technical team from Delhi had visited ANMMCH on September 16 and 17.

The team members had collected blood samples and the cerebrospinal fluid of the children admitted at the hospital for pathological tests. However, the test reports are not available at ANMMCH so far.