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Page No. : 11-14

ABSTRACT

Japanese encephalitis (JE) is mosquito-borne flaviviral zoonoses, known to cause fatal disease in equines as well as in humans. Horses are the primary affected domestic animals of Japanese encephalitis virus (JEV) though essentially a dead-end host; other equids (donkeys) are also susceptible. The present study was un-dertaken to assess the seropositivity of Japanese Encephalitis virus in horses using virus neutralizing test. A total of 496 horse serum samples were collected from various regions of Uttar Pradesh, Gujarat, Jammu and Kashmir, Rajasthan and Punjab. Overall, 24.60 per cent JEV sero-positivity was found in the equine population under study. The JEV sero-positivity was found to be 47.43 per cent, 35.29 per cent and 15 percent in equine population of Uttar Pradesh, Punjab and Gujarat, respectively. None of the horses from Jammu and Kashmir and Rajasthan were found positive for JEV antibody. The higher sero-positivity of JEV in horses of Uttar Pradesh and Punjab highlights the need for strong and regular surveillance of JEV in equine population of India to know the actual burden of the disease.

Keywords: Horses, Japanese encephalitis, sero-positivity, virus neutralization test