A large outbreak of Japanese encephalitis predominantly among adults in northern region of West Bengal, India

J Med Virol. 2016 Nov;88(11):2004-11. doi: 10.1002/jmv.24556. Epub 2016 May 2.

Abstract

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.

Keywords: Acute encephalitis syndrome; Eastern India; Japanese encephalitis virus; adults; disease outbreak; genotype II.

Publication types

  • Observational Study
  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

  • Acute Disease
  • Adolescent
  • Adult
  • Child
  • Disease Outbreaks*
  • Encephalitis Virus, Japanese / genetics
  • Encephalitis Virus, Japanese / isolation & purification
  • Encephalitis, Japanese / epidemiology*
  • Encephalitis, Japanese / mortality
  • Encephalitis, Japanese / virology
  • Female
  • Genotype
  • Humans
  • India / epidemiology
  • Male
  • Young Adult