Patna, Uttar Pradesh, India

Union Minister for Consumer Affairs, Food and Public Distribution Ram Vilas Paswan on Friday said that he is doing whatever needs to be done along with Health Minister and Chief Minister of Bihar to deal with the Acute Encephalitis Syndrome (AES) outbreak in Bihar's Muzaffarpur district.

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Sri Krishna Medical College and Hospital (SKMCH), which is handling the largest number of patients in the district, reported 111 deaths while there 21 deaths were reported at Kejriwal Hospital.

"If somebody goes there then you call it 'nautanki,' if we don't then you say why didn`t you go to see. Doing whatever is needed to be done along with the Health Minister and Chief Minister," Paswan told media here.

AES is a viral disease that causes flu-like symptoms such as high fever, vomiting and in extreme cases, brain dysfunction, seizure, and inflammation of heart and kidney. 

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This year 154 children have lost their lives in Muzaffarpur to an encephalopathy of unknown origin, says a report of a doctors' forum on Friday which has blamed these deaths on "administrative failure and state's apathy".

In the preliminary report of Progressive Medicos and Scientists' Forum (PMSF), a few unfamiliar facts and causes have been listed regarding the influx of Acute Encephalitis Syndrome (AES)-affected patients in Muzaffarpur this year even as various experts are trying to pinpoint the aetiology behind this convulsive illness and related deaths.