a Boy Who
GorGed oN
liTchis
Jahid, 4
Village Bishnupur Chandtola
Muzaffarpur districtSUDDEN ONSET: Idrish, a
mason, and his wife Rehan lost
their son to AES. Jahid had taken
his dinner and gone to bed.
Around 4:30 am, he developed
high fever. His parents took him
to Muzaffarpur’s Sri Krishna
Medical College. There was some
delay as roads had been dug up
and there was no conveyance
nearby. He was immediately
taken to the ICU, but was
declared dead after three hours.THE MYSTERY: How did Jahid
die? His parents say he had not
started school and spent his
days playing with his four sib-
lings and cousins in and around
litchi orchards, just a stone’s
throw from their thatched hut,
every day. He may have picked
up fruits and eaten them. Apart
from the delay in reaching the
hospital, was there anything
at work?CALL FOR INVESTIGATION: A
possible explanation could be
that fruit-bearing litchi trees
attract bats, known to be a res-
ervoir of AES pathogens. Eating
litchis that are contaminated
with bat excreta can lead to
infection. The most common
cause of encephalitis, however,
is the arbovirus, which is trans-
mitted through insect bites.
Jahid may have been bitten by
mosquitoes and sandflies, which
thrive near litchi trees and feed
on bats, and gotten infected.suddeN VOid Jahid’s mother outside
her house with her younger child
8 July 2019 OutlOOk 33
PraBhaT raNjaN kumar