Lucknow, August 20:

With 20 more deaths over the past 36 hours, the encephalitis toll in Uttar Pradesh (UP) state in India touched 110 today. The brain fever, whose outbreak first came to light late last month, was stated to be on the rise in certain parts of eastern UP, particularly along the India-Nepal border. “We had the biggest rush of patients between last night and this morning, with the arrival of about 56 patients,” said Dr KP Kushwaha, in charge of the special encephalitis unit created at the Medical College in Gorakhpur. He said: “The largest number of patients were coming from Maharajganj and Kushinagar districts.” According to him, “Encephalitis is a perennial problem during the rainy season, but the situation appeared to be alarming.”