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Page No. : 21-26

ABSTRACT

Lakhimpur is one of the majorly affected districts by Japanese encephalitis (JE) in Assam. The district was first to report human JE incidence in the year 1978 from the state and also from North East India. But in spite of the many control and prevention programs being implemented, the disease is still looming at large. This study was structured for epidemiological investigation of all the possible causal factors responsible for JE outbreak in the district so as to draw measures for future control and prevention program effective for the district. The retrospective analysis of human cases in all the blocks has been studied from the year 2013-2015. The porcine serological survey was carried out from May 2015 to June 2016 for all the blocks of the district along with investigation of the causal factors like exposure to mosquito, rice cultivation, water bodies, wild birds and proximity of human habitat to pig sheds. Porcine serosurvey showed a seroprevalence of 3.83% by indirect ELISA (commercial kit). Analysis of retrospective human JE cases revealed that some blocks were more affected with JE and the close association of pig-human-rice fi eld/improper sewage with adequate exposure to mosquitoes was the contributing reasons. Taking accounts of all the causal factors, combined effect of ongoing human medical interventions and mosquito control programs need to be associated with change in pig rearing pattern so that the human-pig-mosquito triad is broken for JE virus.

Keywords: Assam, Japanese encephalitis, Lakhimpur, mosquito