Shillong, June 20 -- Health departments across the nation are having sleepless nights to find out solution to prevent and cure the Acute Encephalitis Syndrome (AES) that has so far claimed over 120 children in 20 days in Bihar's Muzaffarpur, and the outbreak of the Japanese Encephalitis (JE) in West Garo Hills, Meghalaya, with 12 cases being reported so far including one dead. Both are stated to be annual problems, yet the respective state governments failed to take precautionary measures, particularly in improving the living condition and standards of the sensitive districts.

It may be recalled that AES is a basket term used for referring to acute onset of fever and clinical neurological manifestation that includes mental confusion, dis...