Kathmandu,Aug.29: An outbreak of encephalitis has killed at least 37 persons so far persons

in the west Nepal district of Banke, health officials said Tuesday.

Twenty-four of the 218 patients admitted at the Bheri Anchal Hospital, 12 of the 42 persons treated at Nepalgunj Teaching Hospital and one person died at the Kohalpur Teaching Hospital have died, officials said.The Nepal Red Cross Society is providing free medicines.

The vector borne disease has claimed 4,700 lives in 22 years nation-wide since the disease first surfaced in the kingdom in 1978– 434 died in 1999.