Centre plans special pilot project to rein in AES

[Ronan Kelly]

Centre plans special pilot project to rein in AES
Maulshree Seth
Posted: Thu Mar 10 2011, 02:44 hrs
Lucknow:

The Union Ministry of Health and Family Welfare is planning to launch a pilot project in Kushinagar, Eastern Uttar Pradesh, for the prevention and control of Acute Encephalitis Syndrome (AES), which kills hundreds of children every year.


Under the project, the special measures will be taken before the disease season begins in August.


If the measures are successful in controlling the spread of the AES and its mortality Kushinagar, they will then be taken up in the remaining 21 districts of eastern Uttar Pradesh, which are affected by the disease.


The pilot project will be taken up under the National Vector Borne Disease Control Programme and it will be in addition to the ongoing efforts for Japanese Encephalitis eradication, like vaccination.


Under the special measures, however, efforts will also be made to ensure timely vaccination, provide clean drinking water, more awareness of hygiene, treatment of stagnant water and timely fogging.

...


?While efforts are being done to identify the virus which is killing children in eastern UP, we decided to launch a campaign of preventive measures which might help control the spread of the disease, or help curtail mortality,? said a senior Central official. ?We know there are certain entero-viruses causing the disease and preventive measures could save lives.?


At the same time, the government is also planning to have a post-encephalitis management system because a large number of AES patients report prolonged ailments like memory loss, regular headaches, mood swings etc.


....

http://www.indianexpress.com/news/centre-plans-special-pilot-project-to-rein-in-aes/760359/0

 

[Ronan Kelly]

Re: Centre plans special pilot project to rein in AES

CSIR to help crack east UP virus

Maulshree Seth,Maulshree Seth
Posted: Mar 09, 2011 at 0350 hrs IST

Lucknow Following its failure to identify the precise nature of the entero-viruses which are proving deadly for a large number of children in eastern Uttar Pradesh every year, Pune-based National Institute of Virology has decided to take help from the Institute of Genomic and Integrative Biology (IGIB) for genetic sequencing of the virus.
Sources said the IGIB, is a premier institute of the Council of Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR), has agreed to assist NIV in identifying the virus. It would use the facilities available at NIV?s field office in Gorakhpur.

In 2008, NIV?s Gorakhpur unit had found that certain entero-viruses which enter the body through oral-faecal route, are the culprits behind the mysterious Acute Encephalitis Syndrome (AES) prevalent among children in eastern UP. The Atlanta-based Center for Disease Control had also corroborated the finding. Since then, the NIV laboratory has been working to identify the precise nature of these viruses without success.

?Thousands of entero-viruses are present in the atmosphere. Attempts have been made to isolate some of the viruses found in eastern UP but it is a cumbersome and time-consuming process. So it has been decided to take help from IGIB for a systematic study,? said a senior officer of the Union Health Ministry.

He added, ?IGIB has the infrastructure to do High-throughput Screening (HTS), which is a rapid method. It has the capacity also to do a large number of tests at a time and with high accuracy. Their infrastructure is comparable with that of laboratories in developed countries and we hope to move ahead in the direction of identifying the viruses with their assistance.?

Every year, Japanese Encephalitis and AES kill hundreds of children in eastern UP between August and October, but AES is the main killer. Since the symptoms of the two diseases are similar, all are initially recorded as AES cases. After testing, JE cases are recorded separately.

...

http://www.expressindia.com/latest-news/csir-to-help-crack-east-up-virus/759830/