Two more children on Friday died of encephalitis in Bihar, taking the fever toll to 40 in Bihar's Muzzafarpur district.

A central team, which had collected blood samples of the patients to ascertain the cause of the death, had said the children were suffering from encephalitis.

"We can say that the reason for the death of the children is encephalitis, but at this stage it is difficult to say what sort of encephalitis it is, whether it is viral one or Japanese", a central team member I P Choudhary had said.

Eighteen more children are undergoing treatment for the fever at two hospitals in the district.