People, mostly poorest of poor, in rural pockets in north Bihar's districts are living in fear of the 'curse of god'. However, the real cause of their panic is encephalitis.

The mosquito-borne disease, which claimed over hundred lives last year, has returned with three children dying in Muzaffarpur in the last 48 hours and about a dozen children admitted in the hospital for treatment, officials on Tuesday said.

Muzaffarpur district civil surgeon Dr Gayan Bhusan has alerted all the hospitals.

"We have asked all hospitals to take care of such patients and monitor them," he said.

Last year, encephalitis claimed in the lives of 55 children in two months in Muzaffarpur alone.

Encephalitis is a condition of acute inflammation of the brain resulting either from a viral infection or when the body's immune system mistakenly attacks the brain tissue.