A five-member medical team comprising of experts has started probing in to the death of a girl child in Japanese encephalitis in Bhusandpur village in Khordha district, Odisha Health and Family Welfare Minister Pratap Jena said the team will find out the exact cause of death and submit a report soon.

He said so far three children suffered from the disease were admitted to hospital. While one died another was discharged after treatment and the third one is undergoing treatment. The Minister said the Health Department has kept a strict vigil on the condition of the child now undergoing treatment.“We have to find out how the disease surfaced even vaccination was conducted in 18 districts of the state prone to the disease,” he said.

In 2016 as many as 103 children had died and hundreds others were affected by the disease, mostly in Malkangiri district. The state government initiated steps to prevent the disease and vaccination was conducted in Mayurbhanj, Jajpur and Keonjhar districts.Later the vaccination was also taken up in 13 other districts. Not a single incident of Japanese Encephalitis was reported from anywhere in the state last year.Official sources said by the end of December last over 52.41 lakh children were vaccinated against the Japanese Encephalitis.