Chandani Kumari, a suspected encephalitis patient, recovers at Kejriwal Maternity Clinic in Muzaffarpur on Wednesday. Picture by Gopi Raman

A three-year-old girl, suffering from suspected encephalitis, died in Muzaffarpur district on Wednesday, while two children with symptoms akin to the disease have died in Gaya in the past two days.

Lucky Kumari, a resident of Sasma village in Saraiya block of Muzaffarpur, was admitted to Sri Krishna Medical College and Hospital SKMCH) in Muzaffarpur on Wednesday morning and died in the afternoon.

Two other chibldren with symptoms of encephalitis were admitted to Kejriwal Maternity Clinic on Wednesday.

Rajiv Kumar, the head of the paediatric ward, Kejriwal Maternity Clinic, said: “Both the children have shown signs akin to encephalitis. The condition of the girls, aged 14 and seven, from Minapur and Saraiya in the district, is critical.”

SKMCH superintendent G.K. Thakur said the hospital has set up a separate intensive care unit having a capacity of 10 beds to treat patients affected with suspected encephalitis. He added that the hospital authorities have constituted a team of paediatricians to monitor such patients round-the-clock.

The chief medical officer-cum-civil surgeon, Gyan Bhushan, said he has reviewed the preparedness of the private and government hospitals, where children suffering from suspected encephalitis are being admitted.

Bhushan said he has requested health department principal secretary Amarjeet Sinha to send a team of expert doctors from the Pune-based National Institute of Virology and Rajendra Memorial Research Institute in Patna, to identify the virus that has affected people, mostly children, for the past few years.

Bhushan has also requested the health department to ask the team of doctors to stay in the district for at least a month to assist the physicians of both private and government hospitals to help them tackle the situation.

On Sunday evening, two children suffering from suspected encephalitis had died at Kejriwal Maternity Clinic in Juran Chapra.

Two children have died at Anugrah Narayan Magadh Medical College and Hospital (ANMMCH) in Gaya during the last two days, while two others are struggling for life in the health hub.

ANMMCH paediatrics department head of department (HoD) Ajoy Kishore Ravi told The Telegraph that prima facie clinical examinations indicated that it might be some type of disease coming under acute encephalitis syndrome. The syndrome comprises over 19 diseases, including meningitis, hygienic meningitis, tuberculosis meningitis and cerebral malaria or any other disease.