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Increased human-animal interfaces impose threats on human life by creating scope for the emergence and resurgence of many infectious diseases. Over the last two decades, emergence of novel viral diseases such as SARS, influenza A/H1N1(09) pdm; MERS; Nipah virus disease; Ebola haemorrhagic fever and the current COVID-19 has resulted in massive outbreaks, epidemics and pandemics thereby causing profound losses of human life, health and economy. The current COVID-19 pandemic has affected more than 200 countries, reporting a global case load of 167,878,000 with 2 per cent mortality as on May 26, 2021. This has highlighted the importance of reducing human- animal interfaces to prevent such zoonoses. Rapid deforestation, shrinking of boundaries between human and animal, crisis for natural habitation, increasing demands for wildlife products and threat of extinction compounded by biodiversity narrowing compel to increased human-animal conflict and contact. Large quantities of animal waste generated due to animal agriculture may also allow rapid selection, amplification, dissemination of zoonotic pathogens and facilitate zoonotic pathogen adaptation and hinder host evolution for resistance. Public health system faces challenges to contain such epidemics due to inadequate understanding, poor preparedness, lack of interdisciplinary approach in surveillance and control strategy and deficient political commitments. Because the management measures are beyond the purview of health system alone, policy-level adaptation in the transdisciplinary issues are required, emphasizing the engagement of multiple stakeholders towards wildlife protection, alternative land use, community empowerment for natural resource management and regulation on business of wildlife products to ensure comprehensive one health practice.

Despite high morbidity and mortality of ongoing coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic, no specific therapy has been established till date. Though in vitro studies identified various molecules as possible therapies against severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), these findings call for substantiation by human studies. We conducted this review aiming at reporting evidences on therapies used so far globally for management of COVID-19 in clinical settings. We searched electronic databases as PubMed, Google Scholar, EMBASE and extracted 612 possible studies as on May 31, 2020. We included original studies of any epidemiological design done on human COVID-19 patients and measured clinical outcomes. Finally, following removal of duplicates and studies meeting exclusion criteria, we derived 22 studies, of which eight were clinical trials, seven were case reports and case series, and seven were observational studies. The most reported therapies were hydroxychloroquine (HCQ) (eight studies) and lopinavir/ritonavir (four studies). We conclude from the evidence generated so far that interferon combined with antivirals, remdesivir, umifenovir and favipiravir were mostly associated with better clinical outcomes. The therapeutic effect of HCQ was established initially by two clinical trials; one of them showing a reinforcing effect by azithromycin but subsequent studies did not elicit any effectiveness rather increased rate of adverse events was reported. Lopinavir/ritonavir was found beneficial when administered with interferon and ribavirin, but one clinical trial on its sole use proved contrary. As many clinical trials are in process, we expect to get concrete evidences on repurposing of existing drugs based on less biased, high powered studies.

Japanese encephalitis (JE), is a vaccine preventable mosquito borne arboviral disease. The State Health Department of West Bengal, India started a vaccination programme using live attenuated, single dose JE vaccine (SA-14-14-2) in children aged 1-below15 years since 2006 in five districts. The objectives were to compare Sample Positivity Rates (SPR) of Acute Encephalitis Syndrome (AES) cases for JE between vaccinatedunvaccinated districts and observe trend of SPRCumulative Incidence in vaccinated districts for three years.The study was based on the analysis of surveillance data from all tested AES cases including confirmed JE (IgM ELISA) from all JE testing facilities existent in the state during the study period (2011-13). Calculation of Cumulative Incidence, Odds Ratio (OR) with 95% CI, Preventive Fraction and Chi Square for trend (for SPR) was done. Trend of incidence was assessed by linear regression.In three years, 5 vaccinated districts contributed 945 AES and 88 JE cases (SPR - 9.3%) compared to 1807 and 254 (SPR - 14.1%) JE cases in 14 unvaccinated districts. Effectiveness of vaccination was evident by gradual decline of Odds Ratio in favour of vaccinated districts. Vaccination effectiveness of 68% overall and 80% [OR = 0.20 (0.10 - 0.41)] in below 15 years were observed. Trend of SPR was found significantly declining in most of the vaccinated districts.Significant reduction in sample positivity rate over three years in most of the vaccinated districts indicated that the vaccination programme had been gradually effective.

Background India began COVID-19 vaccination in January 2021, initially targeting healthcare and frontline workers. The vaccination strategy was expanded in a phased manner and currently covers all individuals aged 18 years and above. India experienced a severe second wave of COVID-19 during March–June 2021. We conducted a fourth nationwide serosurvey to estimate prevalence of SARS-CoV-2 antibodies in the general population aged ≥6 years and healthcare workers (HCWs). Methods and findings We did a cross-sectional study between 14 June and 6 July 2021 in the same 70 districts across 20 states and 1 union territory where 3 previous rounds of serosurveys were conducted. From each district, 10 clusters (villages in rural areas and wards in urban areas) were selected by the probability proportional to population size method. From each district, a minimum of 400 individuals aged ≥6 years from the general population (40 individuals from each cluster) and 100 HCWs from the district public health facilities were included. The serum samples were tested for the presence of IgG antibodies against S1-RBD and nucleocapsid protein of SARS-CoV-2 using chemiluminescence immunoassay. We estimated the weighted and test-adjusted seroprevalence of IgG antibodies against SARS-CoV-2, along with 95% CIs, based on the presence of antibodies to S1-RBD and/or nucleocapsid protein. Of the 28,975 individuals who participated in the survey, 2,892 (10%) were aged 6–9 years, 5,798 (20%) were aged 10–17 years, and 20,285 (70%) were aged ≥18 years; 15,160 (52.3%) participants were female, and 21,794 (75.2%) resided in rural areas. The weighted and test-adjusted prevalence of IgG antibodies against S1-RBD and/or nucleocapsid protein among the general population aged ≥6 years was 67.6% (95% CI 66.4% to 68.7%). Seroprevalence increased with age (p < 0.001) and was not different in rural and urban areas (p = 0.822). Compared to unvaccinated adults (62.3%, 95% CI 60.9% to 63.7%), seroprevalence was significantly higher among individuals who had received 1 vaccine dose (81.0%, 95% CI 79.6% to 82.3%, p < 0.001) and 2 vaccine doses (89.8%, 95% CI 88.4% to 91.1%, p < 0.001). The seroprevalence of IgG antibodies among 7,252 HCWs was 85.2% (95% CI 83.5% to 86.7%). Important limitations of the study include the survey design, which was aimed to estimate seroprevalence at the national level and not at a sub-national level, and the non-participation of 19% of eligible individuals in the survey. Conclusions Nearly two-thirds of individuals aged ≥6 years from the general population and 85% of HCWs had antibodies against SARS-CoV-2 by June–July 2021 in India. As one-third of the population is still seronegative, it is necessary to accelerate the coverage of COVID-19 vaccination among adults and continue adherence to non-pharmaceutical interventions., Manoj Murhekar and co-workers report on the seroprevalence of anti-SARS-CoV-2 antibodies in India., Author summary Why was this study done? Earlier nationwide COVID-19 serosurveys conducted in India indicated an increase in seroprevalence from 0.73% (95% CI 0.34% to 1.13%) in May–June 2020 to 6.6% (95% CI 5.8% to 7.4%) in September–October 2020 and 24.1% (95% CI 23.0% to 25.3%) in December 2020–January 2021. India began COVID-19 vaccination in January 2021, initially targeting healthcare and frontline workers. The vaccination strategy was expanded in a phased manner and currently covers all individuals aged 18 years and above. India witnessed a severe second wave of COVID-19 in March–June 2021. What did the researchers do and find? The fourth nationwide serosurvey indicated that about two-thirds of India’s population aged ≥6 years had antibodies against SARS-CoV-2 by June–July 2021. Seroprevalence increased with age, but was not different in urban slum, urban non-slum, and rural areas. Seroprevalence was significantly higher among individuals who had received 2 doses of COVID-19 vaccine compared to unvaccinated individuals. About 85% of healthcare workers working in district-level health facilities had antibodies against SARS-CoV-2. What do these findings mean? The substantial seroprevalence of anti-SARS-CoV-2 antibodies in the Indian population should provide some measure of protection against future waves of COVID-19 in the country. About one-third of the population in India did not have detectable antibodies against SARS-CoV-2 by June–July 2021. It is therefore necessary to accelerate the coverage of COVID-19 vaccination among adults.

Serodiscordant couples serve as potential sources of human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) transmission. Understanding the demographic dynamics of serodiscordant couples plays an important role in tailoring interventions to eliminate HIV infection. We conducted this cross-sectional analysis among 314 integrated counseling and testing centers in West Bengal, India, from April 2016 to March 2020. General individuals who were detected as HIV-reactive and whose spouses were also tested for HIV comprised the study population, in which a total of 8,740 couples were included. Sociodemographic variables were compared across concordant and discordant arms, as well as between male positive (M+ F-) and female positive (F+ M-) subgroups of serodiscordant couples. Among the couples studied, 35.2% (95% CI: 34.2-36.2%) were serodiscordant. Among serodiscordant couples, the proportion of M+ F- (86.1%) was significantly higher than that of F+ M- (13.9%). We observed that higher mean ages of couples, higher education, business and service occupations, and urban residence were significantly associated with the serodiscordance relationship (P0.05). A high mean age of couples and a low proportion of housewives were associated with the F+ M- subgroup. As approximately 35% of serodiscordant couples carry the risk of transmission to negative spouses, particularly in older age and urban residence, reorientation of HIV programs may be required to avert transmission in the future.

Prevalence of adult HIV infection in India is still high in certain North-eastern (NE) states, particularly among injecting drug users (IDUs). This study aims at exploring IDU behavior profile and their variation across the different states of NE region, India. Data were drawn from a population-based, cross-sectional survey of IDU in the integrated bio-behavioral surveillance from 2014 to 2015. A total of 4272 IDUs from four states (Manipur, Meghalaya, Mizoram, and Nagaland) aged ≥15 years were interviewed. Descriptive analysis was conducted to identify the variation in demographic and IDU behavior across four states. Youth predominance in Mizoram was evident by the mean age of initiation

Human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) infection in pregnancy may result in adverse obstetric outcomes, such as stillbirth. The present study aimed to compare the stillbirth rate (SBR) in HIV-infected pregnant women with that in the general population, observing the year-wise trends of HIV infection-associated SBR and identifying possible associated exposures. A retrospective cohort study was conducted through the analysis of secondary data from 314 integrated counseling and testing centers across the state of West Bengal, India, from 2012 to 2020. A total of 3,478 HIV-infected pregnant women were followed up, and year-wise SBR trends were compared with that among all pregnancies of the state as per the latest available Sample Registration System report in India. A linear regression analysis of the year-wise trend in SBR was performed. T-test of two means and the relative risk (RR with 95% confidence interval) was conducted to identify the associations between different exposures and stillbirth. The SBR was significantly higher (26.7/1,000) in HIV-infected pregnancies than in all pregnancies (5/1,000) and was significantly reduced after the initiation of antiretroviral treatment (RR = 0.09: 0.05-0.16). Spouse testing for HIV (surrogate marker for familial involvement) (RR = 0.35: 0.20- 0.61) and maternal literacy (RR = 0.62: 0.40-0.97) were also found to be significantly effective in preventing stillbirth.

Background & objectives: Population-based seroepidemiological studies measure the extent of SARS-CoV-2 infection in a country. We report the findings of the first round of a national serosurvey, conducted to estimate the seroprevalence of SARS-CoV-2 infection among adult population of India. Methods: From May 11 to June 4, 2020, a randomly sampled, community-based survey was conducted in 700 villages/wards, selected from the 70 districts of the 21 States of India, categorized into four strata based on the incidence of reported COVID-19 cases. Four hundred adults per district were enrolled from 10 clusters with one adult per household. Serum samples were tested for IgG antibodies using COVID Kavach ELISA kit. All positive serum samples were re-tested using Euroimmun SARS-CoV-2 ELISA. Adjusting for survey design and serial test performance, weighted seroprevalence, number of infections, infection to case ratio (ICR) and infection fatality ratio (IFR) were calculated. Logistic regression was used to determine the factors associated with IgG positivity. Results: Total of 30,283 households were visited and 28,000 individuals were enrolled. Population-weighted seroprevalence after adjusting for test performance was 0.73 per cent [95% confidence interval (CI): 0.34-1.13]. Males, living in urban slums and occupation with high risk of exposure to potentially infected persons were associated with seropositivity. A cumulative 6,468,388 adult infections (95% CI: 3,829,029-11,199,423) were estimated in India by the early May. The overall ICR was between 81.6 (95% CI: 48.3-141.4) and 130.1 (95% CI: 77.0-225.2) with May 11 and May 3, 2020 as plausible reference points for reported cases. The IFR in the surveyed districts from high stratum, where death reporting was more robust, was 11.72 (95% CI: 7.21-19.19) to 15.04 (9.26-24.62) per 10,000 adults, using May 24 and June 1, 2020 as plausible reference points for reported deaths. Interpretation & conclusions: Seroprevalence of SARS-CoV-2 was low among the adult population in India around the beginning of May 2020. Further national and local serosurveys are recommended to better inform the public health strategy for containment and mitigation of the epidemic in various parts of the country.

Background: Long-distance truckers (LDTs) belong to a special sentinel group with potentially high risk of acquisition of HIV owing to their high mobility, sociodemographic vulnerability, and high-risk behaviors. Objective: The objective is to estimate the prevalence of HIV and identifies its sociodemographic correlates among a representative population of LDTs in West Bengal, India. Methods: Between May and July 2017, HIV Sentinel Surveillance (HSS) was conducted in West Bengal by the National AIDS Control Organization. A total of 749 LDTs were recruited for the study, were interviewed, and tested for HIV. Descriptive and logistic regression analysis of socio-demographics, sexual risk behavior, and HIV serostatus were performed using SAS 9.3.2. Results: The prevalence of HIV among LDT was 1.2% (95% confidence interval [CI] = 0.4–2.0). Mean age was 32.8 years (standard deviation 8.5), 77.1% were currently married, 89.9% were literate, 85.7% visited HSS site for collecting condoms or seeking medical care and treatment, 53.1% were rural residents, 86.7% had sex at least once with a female partner other than wife in the past 6 months, 2.7% had sex with a male partner and 1.7% injected drugs for recreational purpose. Higher age (odds ratio [OR] = 1.1 [95% CI = 1.0–1.1]), literate (OR = 0.3 [95% CI = 0.1–0.9]), visiting HSS sites for collecting condoms or seeking medical care and treatment (adjusted OR [AOR] = 0.2 [95% CI = 0.1–0.6]), rural residence (OR = 0.2 [95% CI = 0.1–0.3]) and duration of stay in home (AOR = 1.3 [95% CI = 1.1–1.5]) were found to be significant predictors of having sex with a female partner other than wife.Conclusion: High HIV burden calls for urgency in the implementation of targeted intervention to minimize HIV risk among LDTs in West Bengal to fight against HIV/AIDS.

Tyrosinase is a rate-limiting enzyme in mammalian melanogenesis, and is known as a glycoprotein. Post-translational processing of mammalian tyrosinase is required for its folding, sorting, and for enzymatic activity. Here we show for the first time that the mammalian tyrosinase has β1,6-branched N -glycan structure that can be recognized by binding with specific lectin Leukoagglutinating phytohematoagglutinin (L-PHA). Further, this specific glycoconjugate structure has been shown to have a function relationship in melanin synthesis.

β1,6-acetylgulcosaminyltransferase V (GnT-V) forms β1,6 branching on the trimannosyl terminus of N-glycans, allowing for the production of β1,6Glc-NAc-bearing oligosaccharides. These are used by healthy myeloid cells and cancer cells alike for systemic migration. GnT-V has multiple glycoprotein substrates and thereby exerts global effects on cancer progression, characteristic of a master regulator of metastasis. Yet little is known of the regulation of GnT-V expression by tumor cells. It was previously reported that fusion of macrophages with Cloudman S91 mouse melanoma cells produced macrophage–melanoma hybrids with up-regulated GnT-V expression regarding mRNA and enzymatic activity. Majority of these hybrids showed increased chemotactic motility in vitro and elevated metastatic potential in vivo. Here we attempted to understand this at the molecular genetic level focusing on DNA hypermethylation as a potentially key step. Treatment of cells with 5-Aza-dC, an inhibitor of DNA methylation, resulted in decreased expression of GnT-V mRNA and β1,6-branched oligosaccharides along with reduced glycosylation of LAMP-1, a major substrate for GnT-V. This was accompanied by reduced chemotactic motility of the cells. The results suggested that DNA hypermethylation in some fashion stimulated GnT-V expression. We thus investigated the promoter region of the GnT-V gene for hypermethylation of CpG islands, comparing macrophage-melanoma hybrids of low and high metastatic potential with the parental melanoma cell line. Genomic DNA after bisulfite modification amplified from this region showed identical sequences between the cell lines. The findings indicated that differential methylation of the promoter region of GnT-V gene was not responsible for its transcriptional control, rather, appeared to be controlled through a negative regulator, nm23 , whose own expression was regulated by hypermethylation. Although our studies involved a highly experimental system, the results further suggest that by whatever mechanism, reduction of GnT-V activity through 5-Aza-dC treatment might provide a new approach towards prevention of metastatic progression.