Hyderabad, July 21: With seven more children succumbing to viral encephalitis in Andhra Pradesh, the toll has touched 140 even as the state medical and health minister K Siva Prasad Rao today dismissed as "non-issue" the debate over the exact cause of the outbreak. "The line of the treatment is the same for any strain of encephalitis virus. Let us not confuse people by putting forth different hypothesis on the nature of virus. It is definitely a case of viral encephalitis and there can be different strains of this virus," Rao, himself a surgeon of repute, told reporters here.

The minister's remark comes against the backdrop of conflicting assessments on the nature of the epidemic affecting children in the age group of two to 12 years. Reports of seven more children succumbing to the viral fever came in from Mahaboobnagar and Rangreddy districts during the last 24 hours taking the toll to 140, officials sources added.

So far, 257 cases have been reported from eleven districts of which 140 children have died. A majority of the deaths have occurred due to delay in starting the treatment.

Rao said the incidence of viral fever was on the decline as a result of a series of measures undertaken by the government. The minister, however, warned it is not an end of the story as the season between June and October is known for communicable diseases.