The director of health services (DHS), Biswaranjan Satpathy, today said 102 persons have died of the acute encephalitis syndrome (AES) in seven districts of north Bengal so far this year (as of yesterday). He termed the outbreak as alarming as the number of persons who died of Japanese encephalitis (JE) was abnormally high than the usual rate and as compared at the national level.br br Expressing concern over the increasing death rate, Mr Satpathy said the outbreak could take epidemic proportions in the region if it is not controlled immediately.