Seroprevalence of JEV Infection in GKP and Basti Districts, UP, INDIA: Japanese Encephalitis Virus

Japanese Encephalitis is a mosquito borne disease and important public health problem in Uttar Pradesh, India.This study was designed to estimate seroprevalence of Japanese virus infection among children in Gorakhpur and Basti district of UP, India.The study was conducted in 762 children of age 1-15 years.The antibody titre was measure by Plaque Reduction Neutralization Test (PRNT) and Cytopathic effect based Neutralization Test (CPE-NT). The seroprevalence of anti-JE virus antibodies was higher in Gorakhpur than Basti district. The seroconversion at 1 month post vaccination after live attenuated SA-14-14-2 vaccine was 64.9% in Gorakhpur and 35.29% in Basti district. Comparison of CPE-NT and PRNT assay for estimating neutralizing antibody titres against JE virus showed a correlation coefficient of 0.73.In mass vaccination settings, CPE NT may be used as an assay of choice for undertaking studies on antibody response.