Open AccessIncreasing trend of Japanese encephalitis cases in West Bengal, India – a threat to paediatric population
Author(s) -
Debjani Taraphdar,
Arindam Sarkar,
Biswanath Mukhopadhyay,
Debabrata Chakraborty,
Tanuja Khatun,
Souvik Chatterjee
Publication year - 2012
Publication title -
asian pacific journal of tropical disease
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.208
H-Index - 33
ISSN - 2222-1808
DOI - 10.1016/s2222-1808(12)60078-4
Subject(s) - japanese encephalitis , west bengal , medicine , vaccination , population , pediatrics , encephalitis , demography , veterinary medicine , virology , virus , environmental health , socioeconomics , sociology
Objective: To detect the Japanese encephalitis virus (JEV) as the etiologic agent from the\udacute encephalitis syndrome (AES) cases mainly amongst the children and young adults from\udvaccinated and non-vaccinated districts of West Bengal. Methods: For the detection of JEV, a\udtotal of 828 sera were referred from vaccinated and non vaccinated districts of West Bengal during\ud2005-2011. Japanese encephalitis (JE) positive cases were confirmed by ELISA and RT-PCR\udmethod. Results: Out of 828 cases, 245 samples were positive by ELISA method and 46 samples\udwere positive by RT-PCR method. Out of 291 total positive cases, 162 (55.6%) were below 20 years\udof age. Initially in 2005, JE cases were highest amongst the children and young adults (0-20 years).\udAfter vaccination, although the JE cases declined gradually in the vaccinated districts, but again\udfrom 2010, JE cases from the said age group showed an increasing trend from those districts. JE\udcases were also reported from other endemic zones of this state, which were still non-vaccinated.\udConclusions: In West Bengal, JE cases are still predominated among children and young adults\udtill the year 2011. Mass scale vaccination programme and investigation on the circulating strains\udare essentially required to find out the reasons of increasing tendency of JE cases in this state