What is Japanese encephalitis?
Japanese encephalitis is an infection caused by Japanese encephalitis virus, related to dengue, yellow fever and West Nile viruses.
This virus is transmitted to humans through the bite of infected Culex species mosquitoes, and mostly Culex tritaeniorhynchus.
As per the World Health Organisation (WHO), 24 countries in the WHO South-East Asia and Western Pacific regions have Japanese encephalitis virus transmission risk, which includes more than 3 billion people.
Pune recorded the first case of Japanese encephalitis few days before
Recently Pune recorded the first case of Japanese encephalitis for the first time in three years. The patient, a 4 year old boy, was on ventilator support for nine days and was in the ICU for 15 days after his admission.
The boy was admitted to a city hospital on November 3.
21 cases of Japanese encephalitis have been found in Karnataka.
His symptoms were...
The boy reported symptoms like fever, headache, weakness and seizures.
His blood and cerebrospinal fluid samples were sent to National Institute of Virology which were confirmed to have Japanese encephalitis virus.
Japanese encephalitis signs and symptoms
The infection usually has mild symptoms which are in the form of fever and headache.
1 in 250 infections results in severe clinical illness. Severe illness is characterized by rapid onset of high fever, headache, neck stiffness, disorientation, coma, seizures, spastic paralysis and ultimately death.
The incubation period for Japanese encephalitis virus is 4-14 days.
"20%–30% suffer permanent neurologic issues"
Health experts have said that of those who survive COVID, 20%–30% suffer permanent neurologic issues.
"Of those who survive, 20%–30% suffer permanent intellectual, behavioural or neurological sequelae such as paralysis, recurrent seizures or the inability to speak," says the WHO.
Japanese encephalitis vaccine
While the Japanese encephalitis vaccine drive has begun in Karnataka for 48 lakh children, it is yet to begin in full swing at other places.
Currently, Jenvac is being administered to kids free of cost in 10 districts of Karnataka. The drive is expected to conclude within 3 weeks.
JENVAC is a single dose vaccine prepared from an Indian strain (Kolar- 821564XY) of the Japanese encephalitis virus. It is administered intramuscularly.
As per reports a total of 68,000 such cases are reported in the country every year.
“Most doctors do not tell diabetics that their sugar can drop and it can be dangerous”
Start a Conversation
Post comment