A three-member team from National Centre for Disease Control (NCDC), New Delhi, is looking for possible links between the virus of acute encephalitis syndrome and litchi.

The team, led by joint director B. Karmakar, arrived here on Thursday. The members are focussing on correlation of the virus with litchi.

The encephalitis outbreak occurs mostly during the plucking season of luscious litchi and also during blistering summers.

A team of the NCDC doctors is camping in Muzaffarpur to monitor the medical assistance being provided to ailing children.

“Quite a number of children have fallen ill and died during the course of treatment of encephalitis. During their treatment, it was noted that most of the children were regular visitors to litchi orchards before falling ill,” said chief medical officer-cum-civil surgeon Gyan Bhushan.

Karmakar visited the litchi orchards in Minapur, Jhapha and Ahiyapur with technical assistants and collected waste materials of plucked litchis for investigation.

The team members also visited the houses of children at Karhar village who had fallen ill, showing signs of encephalitis and later discharged from the hospital. The NCDC doctors recorded minute details about the children.

“They collected water samples consumed by the ailing children. The blood samples of the children admitted to Sri Krishna Medical College and Hospital (SKMCH) and Kejriwal Maternity Clinic have already been procured and sent to Institute of Virology, Gorakhpur, for detection of AES viruses,” said the CMO.

He added that 20 children have died of acute encephalitis syndrome this year.

“Till date, 78 children fell ill and were admitted to the SKMCH and the Kejriwal Maternity Clinic. Out of them, 20 died of acute encephalitis syndrome,” the CMO said.