Seven persons have died in Manipur in the past few weeks due to Japanese encephalitis, a mosquito-borne disease, said T. Kamini, a biologist at the state unit of the National Vector Borne Disease Control Programme, on Thursday.

He said that 83 others are currently undergoing treatment in hospitals.Stressing that steps have been taken to control the outbreak of diseases, he said that people have also been advised to sleep inside mosquito nets and take other precautions.Informed sources say that the number of persons affected by dengue and swine flu is also increasing. At least two persons are known to have died due to swine flu.However, the exact figure is not available since patients outside the hospitals, including those who had died elsewhere, are not included in the official list.

Also there is no facility to test the blood samples in Manipur and so they are sent outside the state.Doctors attending to such patients say that the outbreak is usually high in the rural and hill areas and that some foreigners coming from Myanmar are believed to have carried the disease.Health Minister L. Jayentakumar said: "There are reports of outbreak of these diseases. Doctors and paramedics have been rushed to the affected areas. There is no shortage of medicines to cope with the situation."Some doctors who refused to go to the interior areas had been suspended.