1National Institute of Virology, 20-A, Dr. Ambedkar Road, P.B. No.-11, Pune-411001.
2Office of the Deputy Director, Department of Animal Husbandry, State Government of UP, Gorakhpur, India.
Abstracts of the papers presented at the XVIII National Conference of Indian Virological Society at Post Graduate Institute of Medical Education and Research, Chandigarh, India, December 11–13, 2008.
Gorakhpur and adjoining are as of eastern Uttar Pradesh areknown to be endemic for Japanese encephalitis (JE), especially in pediatric population. To understand the extent of JE virus infection in different domestic animals and their role in JE virus transmission, serum specimens from different domestic animals collected during encephalitis outbreak were analyzed for presence of neutralizing antibodies against JE virus. Sera from the blood specimens collected from pigs, buffalos, cattle, goats and fowls was separated and transmitted to National Institute of Virology, Pune in cold for further investigations. The sera were analyzed for neutralizing antibodies against JE virus by neutralization test using BHK-21 cells. Overall 60.86% positivity for anti - JE virus neutralizing antibodies was observed in total number of samples 115 tested. 81.57% (31/38) positivity was noticed in pig sera followed by 66.66% (08/12) in buffaloes, 53.84% (07/13) in cattle and 51.06% (24/47) in goats. Anti – JE virus neutralizing antibodies were not detected in fowl sera (00/05). Four – fold difference was documented in neutralizing antibody titers in sera of pigs followed by other animals. Higher neutralizing antibody titer was found in adult pigs than the piglets. It is well known that the domestic pigs play an important role as reservoir in JE virus natural cycle. However, extent of JE virus infection in other domestic animals and their role in JE virus life cycle is not studied in eastern UP. Present study has documented higher titers of anti - JE virus neutralizing antibodies among most of the domestic animals indicating that these animals may play an important role in JE virus transmission to humans by long - term maintenance of the virus in nature in absence of overt disease.
