Four more persons died of 'acute encephalitis syndrome' at the North Bengal Medical College and Hospital (NBMCH) today, while the medical college authorities claimed that the number of patients suffering from the disease has gone down. The around 30 patients who died in the past few days all had the ‘encephalitis syndrome,' according to NBMCH sources. The latest victims have been identified as Alia Khatun, 55, of Batabari in Jalpaiguri district, Sukhday Das, 55, of Jalpaiguri, Anubala Roy of NJP station area in Siliguri, and Jarina Khatun of Raiganj, NBMCH medical superintendent Dr Amarendranath Sarkar said. The fresh deaths have taken the toll to six persons in the past 24 hours. Around 11 children are undergoing treatment in the pediatric ward at present. "Around 28 children were admitted with the encephalitis syndrome around two weeks ago. But now the number of cases has gone down. At present, 11 children are admitted here, some of them in the ICU," said the head of the department of pediatrics at the NBMCH, Dr Mridula Chatterjee. Minister of state for health, Chandrima Bhattacharya, said a three-member team of experts from the health department is scheduled to visit the NBMCH very soon. "To get an overview of the current situation at the NBMCH, experts from the virology department of the School of Tropical Medicine, community medicine and a technician would visit the NBMCH and submit their report to the Swastha Bhaban. The director of health services, Dr Biswaranjan Satpathy, will also visit NBMCH later," Ms Bhattacharjee over telephone from Kolkata. Patients suffering from the disease are mostly from Jalpaiguri and Cooch Behar districts and lower Assam. Dr Sarkar expressed hope that the situation would get back to normal soon. "The number of cases has come down, as compared to the past few days. There are around 25 patients admitted with the syndrome. Eight patients were admitted yesterday and two died yesterday of the acute encephalitis syndrome," Dr Sarkar said. "In the beginning, serious patients from different places were being admitted, and as such, the death rate was high," he added. The NBMCH today received encephalitis testing kits from the National Institute of Virology, Pune. "We received two boxes of kits today. Each box has 96 kits, and we have sought five more such boxes. The kits are used to test Japanese encephalitis," Dr Sarkar said. According to doctors, the Culex mosquitoes are responsible for spreading the disease among humans from pigs and water fowls. Darjeeling district chief medical officer of health Dr Subir Bhowmik said immunisation progammes were being conducted at various places."We have earlier discussed with the Siliguri Municipal Corporation (SMC) the piggery sector in Siliguri. We will talk to the SMC authorities again," Dr Sarkar said. Piggeries are located in various areas of the town, including wards 1, 3, 5, 43, 35, 34, 40 and 14 under the SMC.