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AP brain fever death toll reaches 138

Syed Amin Jafri in Hyderabad

The death toll due to the Japanese encephalitis (brain fever) epidemic in Andhra Pradesh has mounted to 138 so far this year, with five deaths reported in the last two days.

Director of Health K S V Prasada Rao, in a health bulletin issued in Hyderabad, said that 37 fresh cases were reported on Sunday and Monday, taking the total number of cases so far this year to 687. Of these, 138 cases proved fatal so far.

As many as 521 villages in 10 districts are in the grip of this epidemic with Kurnool district topping the list with 39 deaths, followed by Anantapur with 32 deaths, Prakasam with 23 deaths and Warangal with 20 deaths. Other affected districts -- Guntur, Cuddapah, Karimnagar, Mahbubnagar, Medak and Nalgonda -- accounted for the remaining cases and fatalities.

The director of health has said so far 290 medical teams and 1,219 para-medical teams are working in the field to tackle the epidemic.

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