The diagnostic lens: on encephalitis
DECEMBER 28, 2017 00:04 IST
UPDATED: DECEMBER 27, 2017 23:35 IST
It?s time doctors updated their understanding of encephalitis
A paper in the Indian journal Current Science suggests an unexpected cause for the inflammatory brain disease ? encephalitis ? found in Malkangiri district of Odisha. For many years, this recurring outbreak, which killed over 100 children last year, was thought to be due to the Japanese encephalitis (JE) virus. Now researchers say it was likely due to the consumption of a wild bean, called Bada Chakunda, which grows freely in the region.
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Why does this keep happening? One answer is that JE was indeed the biggest cause of encephalitis in India for decades, and today the public health diagnostic machinery is built around this illness. But as JE vaccination rates have grown, incidence has shrunk, and a host of other causes of encephalitis, like dengue, scrub typhus, herpes simplex and the West Nile virus, have emerged to the forefront. Yet, investigating agencies such as the National Centre for Disease Control and the National Institute of Virology have persisted in focussing on JE. Another problem is the archaic format in which encephalitis is reported to the government. This too is a relic of the pre-JE-vaccination era. Under this format, if an encephalitis case cannot be confirmed as JE, doctors tag it as Acute Encephalitis Syndrome (AES), a term that has now crept into medical literature. But AES is no diagnosis, just a temporary label for different unnamed diseases.
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DECEMBER 28, 2017 00:04 IST
UPDATED: DECEMBER 27, 2017 23:35 IST
It?s time doctors updated their understanding of encephalitis
A paper in the Indian journal Current Science suggests an unexpected cause for the inflammatory brain disease ? encephalitis ? found in Malkangiri district of Odisha. For many years, this recurring outbreak, which killed over 100 children last year, was thought to be due to the Japanese encephalitis (JE) virus. Now researchers say it was likely due to the consumption of a wild bean, called Bada Chakunda, which grows freely in the region.
...
Why does this keep happening? One answer is that JE was indeed the biggest cause of encephalitis in India for decades, and today the public health diagnostic machinery is built around this illness. But as JE vaccination rates have grown, incidence has shrunk, and a host of other causes of encephalitis, like dengue, scrub typhus, herpes simplex and the West Nile virus, have emerged to the forefront. Yet, investigating agencies such as the National Centre for Disease Control and the National Institute of Virology have persisted in focussing on JE. Another problem is the archaic format in which encephalitis is reported to the government. This too is a relic of the pre-JE-vaccination era. Under this format, if an encephalitis case cannot be confirmed as JE, doctors tag it as Acute Encephalitis Syndrome (AES), a term that has now crept into medical literature. But AES is no diagnosis, just a temporary label for different unnamed diseases.
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