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Equine glanders is an infectious and notifiable bacterial disease caused by Burkholderia mallei. The disease has been reported in South American, African and Asian countries including India. Here, we present the outcome of glanders serosurveillance carried out between January 2015 and December 2018 to know the status of equine glanders among different states in India. A total of 102,071 equid sera from 299 districts of twenty‐one states and one union territory were tested for glanders. Samples were screened with Hcp1 indirect ELISA followed by confirmatory diagnosis by CFT. During this four‐year surveillance, a total of 932 glanders‐positive cases were detected from 120 districts of 12 states. The study also revealed increasing trend of glanders from 2016 onwards with maximum occurrence in northern India. Overall seroprevalence ranged between 0.62% (95% CI, 0.52–0.72) and 1.145% (95% CI, 1.03–1.25). Seasonal shifting from winter to summer (March to June) coincided with highest number glanders incidence with corresponding seroprevalences of 1.2% (95% CI, 1.09–1.30). The present surveillance unveils territorial ingression of glanders to six states like Jammu & Kashmir, Gujarat, Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh, Delhi and Tamil Nadu. In addition, re‐emerging cases have been reported in Maharashtra, Haryana and Punjab after a gap of 10 years. Lack of awareness, little veterinary care and unrestricted movement of equids across state borders might have led to the introduction and establishment of the infection to these states. We believe that information from this study will provide a baseline data on glanders for devising surveillance and control strategies in India. Being a zoonotic disease, the persistence of glanders poses a potential threat to occupationally exposed humans especially equine handlers and veterinarians. Therefore, targeted surveillance of human population from each glanders outbreak is also recommended. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective. The study aimed to assess the awareness, perception, and practices regarding oral health among school-going adolescents in Ahmedabad City, Gujarat, India. Materials and methods. A total of 600 school-attending adolescents with a mean age of 14.2 ± 1.19 years were enrolled. Ten schools (five public and five private schools) were selected randomly. They were interviewed by using a face-to-face questionnaire which comprised 13 items. Out of 13 questions four questions were related to awareness, four questions were related to attitude, and five questions were related to the practice of oral health. The statistical association between the two genders, age groups, and between public and private schools was determined using the Chi-square test. Results. Most of the participants were aware of the number of permanent teeth present; however they were unaware of the number of primary teeth, and the effect of sugar and tobacco consumption on oral health. Male and private school-going students had better knowledge compared to females and government school students... A total of 73% of the participants brushed their teeth twice daily. Tooth pain was the most common reason (49.7%) for visiting a dentist. 44.7% of them visit the dentist only when needed while 23.5% visit the dentist every 6 months for regular check-ups. Conclusion. The findings of the study conclude that oral health-related awareness, perception, and practices of adolescent students were not satisfactory. Hence, there is a need for regular oral health education for adolescents, as well as their parents and school teachers, which could impart a better and long-lasting understanding of oral health awareness, which in turn will reflect better oral health-related practices. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper presents results of three United States Environmental Protection Agency (U.S. EPA) sponsored field studies which assessed the fuel consumption impacts of household energy programs in Benin, Uganda, and Gujarat, India. These studies expand on a previous round of U.S. EPA supported efforts to build field testing capacity and collect stove performance data in Peru, Nepal, and Maharashtra, India. Daily fuel consumption estimates of traditional and intervention technologies were made using the Kitchen Performance Test (KPT) protocol to determine the potential fuel savings associated with the respective programs. The programs in Benin and Gujarat, India resulted in significant fuel savings of approximately 29% and 61%, respectively. In Uganda, the homes using liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) consumed approximately 31% less charcoal than those not using LPG, although the total energy consumption per household was similar between the baseline and LPG user groups. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]