The vector-borne Japanese Encephalitis (JE) has continued to target children in eastern Uttar  Pradesh with the toll mounting to 544, following four overnight deaths. Since January this year, 2,784 JE patients have been admitted to the Baba Raghav Das Medical College here and other hospitals of the division, of which 544, including 63 Biharis and 5 Nepalis, succumbed.
Almost 33 patients—including 4 fresh cases—were still in remission.
The JE patients trickle from Gorakhpur,Deoria, Maharajganj, Sant Kabirnagar, Kushinagar, Ballia, Gonda, Bahraich, Mau, Basti, Siddharthnagar, Azamgarh, Gonda and Balrampur districts of UP. Gorakhpur has the dubious distinction of being the JE epicentre in the region.
The endemic afflicts eastern UP during monsoon every year.
 Last year, the killer disease had taken almost 1,000 people under its jaws.