Regional variation in pig farmer awareness and actions regarding Japanese encephalitis in Nepal : implications for public health education

The objective was to explore regional variations in farmer awareness and actions towards Japanese Encephalitis (JE) in Nepal; the association of awareness and actions with farm and farmer variables; and the implications for public health education and extension services. Social factors such as literacy, gender, and cultural practices were associated with farmer attitudes, knowledge and practices for JE control. The low uptake of vaccine and lack of infrastructure or financial capacity to house pigs adequately suggest that farmer personal protection should be a priority for education. JE is a mosquito-borne zoonotic disease with pigs as the amplifying hosts

Comparative spatial dynamics of Japanese encephalitis and acute encephalitis syndrome in Nepal

Geographical patterns can provide important clues about disease etiology. Infectious diseases, such as Japanese Encephalitis (JE), are driven by ecological and social processes which result in heterogeneous distribution of disease risk. Pattern indices describing the amount of irrigated land edge density and the degree of landscape mixing for irrigated areas were positively associated with (JE) and acute encephalitis syndrome (AES) risk, while fragmented forest measured by the number of forest patches were negatively associated with AES and JE. These landscape variables highlight the importance of integrating healthy land management policies and disease prevention strategies in both rural and urban-fringe developing areas

Annual trends in a) the proportion of cases under the age of 16 and b) the proportion of cases vaccinated in Nepal, 2007–2011.

<p>(JE - Japanese Encephalitis, Acute Encephalitis Syndrome (AES), unknown viral encephalopathy UVE).</p

Descriptive statistics of Japanese Encephalitis (JE), Acute Encephalitis Syndrome (AES) and Unknown Viral Encephalopathy (UVE) in Nepal, 2007–2011.

<p>Descriptive statistics of Japanese Encephalitis (JE), Acute Encephalitis Syndrome (AES) and Unknown Viral Encephalopathy (UVE) in Nepal, 2007–2011.</p

Landscape pattern indices used to quantify landscape patterns in Nepal based on Global Land Cover 2000 classification.

<p>All indices are computed at the district level.</p

Maximum standardized incidence ratios over the study period for a) Japanese Encephalitis (JE) and b) Acute Encephalitis Syndrome (AES).

<p>Maximum standardized incidence ratios over the study period for a) Japanese Encephalitis (JE) and b) Acute Encephalitis Syndrome (AES).</p

Maps of geographically weighted regression analysis for Japanese Encephalitis (JE) and Acute Encephalitis Syndrome (AES) and relationships with selected landscape pattern indices.

<p>Maps of geographically weighted regression analysis for Japanese Encephalitis (JE) and Acute Encephalitis Syndrome (AES) and relationships with selected landscape pattern indices.</p

Temporal patterns in Japanese Encephalitis (JE), Acute Encephalitis Syndrome (AES) and unknown viral encephalopathy (UVE) in Nepal, 2007–2011.

<p>a) Seasonal distribution of AES (line), JE (light bars) and UVE (dark bars) cases over the study period. b) Time series of AES (solid), JE (light dots) and UVE (dark dash) cases over the study period.</p

Landscape pattern indices (LPIs) used to investigate relationships between landcover and disease risk.

<p>The interspersion juxtaposition index (IJI) measures the relative spatial mixing of a landcover class in the study area. Edge density (ED) measures the amount of edge relative to the total area (class and landscape), while the number of patches (NumP) reports the total and class level number of contiguous landcover classes. Class 2 was chosen to illustrate class level LPIs in the random map drawn from a Binomial distribution (a) and the result of a median filter on the same map (b) which maintained the relative proportion of class 2 (∼32%).</p

Final logistic regression model farmer knowledge of Japanese Encephalitis and predictors (Cox and Snell; R² = 0.197).

<p>Final logistic regression model farmer knowledge of Japanese Encephalitis and predictors (Cox and Snell; R²  =  0.197).</p