Department of Veterinary Public Health, C.C.S. Haryana Agricultural University, Hisar and National Research Centre on Equines, Hisar-125001, India.
Abstracts of the papers presented at the International Conference of Indian Virological Society on “Emerging and Re-emerging viral Diseases of the Tropics and Subtropics” at Indian Agricultural Research Institute, New Delhi, India, December 11–14, 2007.
Japanese encephalitis (JE) is a zoonotic viral disease causing acute encephalopathy in humans and horses in the tropics. The disease is transmitted by mosquitoes which breed in standing water in the rice fields and transmit virus from pigs and other viraemic animals to the susceptible animals and humans. JE Sero-surveillance in animals in the rice-cultivating zone and non-rice growing zones of Haryana was done by haemagglutination inhibition (HAI) and serum neutralization test (SNT). Out of total 630 animals examined, 60 (9.5%) were positive for JE antibodies. The studies revealed that 10.3% of horses (n=185), 7.2% of cattle (n=264) and 12.6% of buffaloes (n=182) were positive for JE antibodies. JE seroprevalence in animals in the rice zone was 10.1% (47 out of 464) as compared to 7.8% (13 of 166) in non-rice zone in Haryana. The prevalence of JE antibodies was significantly higher in horses (11.4%) in rice growing northeastern districts of Haryana than in the non-rice growing zone (5.5%). The studies showed widespread occurrence of JE infection in animals in Haryana especially in rice growing areas with possible threat to the associated human population.
