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Objective We report the epidemiology of Japanese encephalitis (JE) disease after the implementation of routine immunization in medium-endemic districts in the states of Maharashtra and Telangana in Central India. Methods We investigated acute encephalitis syndrome (AES) patients hospitalized from October 2018 to September 2020. Field visits were also made to the residences of 262 AES cases, including 54 JE cases. Results The overall case fatality ratio was 31%. Maharashtra state contributed 72% of JE and 67% of AES cases. The rural localities had a significantly higher number of JE cases than the urban areas. The occurrence of JE was reported year round, with most JE cases reported during the rainy season. Both AES and JE cases were reported mostly among children, with JE in 66% and non-JE AES in 70% of children. Conclusion The JE disease continues to affect the population after routine immunization. Surveillance, prevention, and control need to be enhanced to achieve accelerated control. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: We estimated the incidence of Japanese encephalitis (JE) and acute encephalitis syndrome (AES) following routine immunization with the live-attenuated SA 14-14-2 JE vaccine. Methods: We implemented enhanced surveillance of AES and JE hospitalizations in endemic districts in Maharashtra and Telangana States during 2015–2016 and 2018–2020. We estimated incidence and compared differences in the incidence of JE and AES between two states, and vaccinated and unvaccinated districts during two study periods. We also considered secondary data from public health services to understand long-term trends from 2007 to 2020. Results: The annual AES incidence rate of 2.25 cases per 100,000 children in Maharashtra during 2018–2020 was significantly lower than 3.36 cases per 100,000 children during 2015–2016. The six JE-vaccinated districts in Maharashtra had significantly lower incidence rates during 2018–2020 (2.03, 95% CI 1.73–2.37) than in 2015–16 (3.26, 2.86–3.70). In addition, the incidence of both JE and AES in two unvaccinated districts was higher than in the vaccinated districts in Maharashtra. Telangana had a lower incidence of both JE and AES than Maharashtra. The AES incidence rate of 0.95 (0.77–1.17) during 2018–2020 in Telangana was significantly lower than 1.67 (1.41–1.97) during 2015–2016. Conclusions: The annual incidence rate of Japanese encephalitis was < 1 case per 100,000 children. It indicated accelerated control of Japanese encephalitis after routine immunization. However, the annual incidence of acute encephalitis syndrome was still > 1 case per 100,000 children. It highlights the need for improving surveillance and evaluating the impacts of vaccination. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We aimed to estimate the coverage of Japanese encephalitis (JE) vaccination in central India to help explain the continued occurrence of JE disease despite routine vaccination. We implemented a 30‐cluster survey for estimating the coverage of JE vaccination in the medium‐endemic areas implemented with JE vaccination in central India. The parents were enquired about the uptake of the JE vaccine by their children aged 2−6 years, followed by verification of the immunization cards at home along with reasons for non‐vaccination. Vaccination coverage was reported as a percentage with 95% confidence intervals (CI). We estimated high coverage of live‐attenuated SA 14‐14‐2 JE vaccination in Maharashtra (94.8%, 95% CI: 92.7−96.3) and Telangana (92.8%, 95% CI: 90.0−94.9). The vaccination card retention was 90.3% in Maharashtra and 70.4% in Telangana state. There were no gender differences in coverage in both states. A similar level of JE vaccination coverage was observed during the year 2013−2021 in both states. In Maharashtra, the maximum age‐wise coverage was 96.6% in the >60 months age category, whereas in Telangana it was in the <24 months age category (97.2%). The timeliness of JE vaccination was appropriate and similar in both states. We found a very good agreement between JE and measles‐rubella vaccinations administered simultaneously. The reasons for non‐vaccination were the shortage of vaccines and the parental migration for work. The coverage of JE vaccination was high in medium‐endemic regions in central India. Vaccination effectiveness studies may help further explain the continued incidence of JE. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Chandipura virus (CHPV), associated with an encephalitic illness in humans, has caused multiple outbreaks with high mortality in central and western India in recent years. The present study compares surface glycoprotein (G-protein) from prototype and recent outbreak strains using in silico tools and in vitro experiments. In silico epitope predictions (B-cell and T-helper cell) for the sequences, 3D structure prediction and comparison of the G-proteins of the strains: I653514 (Year 1965), CIN0327 (Year 2003) and 148974 (Year 2014) revealed that the CHPV G-protein is stable and antigenic determinants are conserved. A monoclonal antibody developed against strain CIN0327 (named NAbC) was found to neutralize prototype I653514 as well as the currently circulating strain 148974. In silico antigen-antibody interaction studies using molecular docking of predicted structures of NAbC and G-proteins of various CHPV strains led to the identification of a conserved neutralizing epitope in the fusion domain of G-protein, which also contained a putative T-helper peptide. The identification of a conserved neutralizing epitope in domain IV (fusion domain amino acids 53 to 172) of CHPV G-protein is an important finding that may have the scope towards the development of protective targets against CHPV infection. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Unusual rise of acute encephalitis syndrome cases (AES) were reported in July 2014 in the northern region of West Bengal, India. Investigations were carried out to characterize the outbreak and to identify the associated virus etiology. This observational study is based on 398 line listed AES cases, mostly (70.8%, 282/398) adults, with case fatality ratio of 28.9% (115/398). Japanese encephalitis virus infection was detected in 134 (49.4%) among 271 AES cases tested and most of them (79.1%, 106/134) were adults. The study reports a large outbreak of genotype III Japanese encephalitis among adults in northern region of West Bengal, India. J. Med. Virol. 88:2004-2011, 2016. © 2016 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]