Alert in north Tripura to prevent spread of Japanese Encephalitis from Assam

AGARTALA: Tripura health department on Thursday issued an alert in areas of North Tripura which share a border with Assam and Mizoram following the Japanese Encephalitis (JE) outbreak in Assam. The health officials said that the department has undertaken special steps to prevent all possibility of the killer disease from spreading in Tripura.

North Tripura district health department circulated special instructions to all the health establishments in areas along the Assam and Mizoram border to take blood samples of as many people as possible to check if anyone is affected by JE, malaria or any other vector-borne disease.

"We have been carrying out blood tests of the villagers, mostly the shifting cultivators, after they return from field every evening. Moreover, ASHA workers have also been conducting random blood tests. We are trying to carry out extensive tests, especially in North Tripura, to ascertain nobody is suffering from JE," said health officials here.

JE has claimed at least 64 lives in Assam this year.