Regional Medical Research Centre, N. E. Region (ICMR), Post Box 105, Dibrugarh-786 001, 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.
Japanese encephalitis (JE) is one of the major public health problems in Assam. In this paper we report JE virus infection for the first time in some districts of Lower Assam viz. Barpeta, Bongaigaon, Chirang, Darrang, Dhubri, Goalpara, Kokrajhar, Kamrup and Nalbari during the year 2007. Maximum numbers of cases were in adult age group. Kamrup reported the maximum number of Acute Encephalopathy Syndrome (AES) cases (15 nos.), out of which 7 were found to be due to JE virus infection. Four of them were from rural areas and three cases were from Guwahati metropolitan area. We have listed out some of the probable ecological and socio-agricultural factors which may be responsible for the invasion of JE to newer areas of Assam. Increasing trend of pig rearing, rise in Brahmaputra river basin leading to inundation of newer areas by the river flood water and encroachment of Deepor Beel has led to creation of vast stagnant water bodies creating congenial breeding habitats for JE vector mosquitoes.
