Sero-prevalence of West Nile virus in urban and peri-urban poultry farms of Guwahati, India

West Nile virus (WNV) is a zoonotic, emerging mosquito-borne virus which can cause severe disease in the form of encephalitis and acute flaccid paralysis in humans. In Assam, northeast India, arboviruses seem to be re-emerging, however, WNV has been little studied. The present investigation was carried out from April, 2018 to March, 2019 to study sero-positivity of WNV in chicken in urban and peri-urban areas of Guwahati, the capital city of Assam. Four urban and four peri-urban areas of Guwahati were selected. A total of 864 chicken serum samples (72 samples per month) were screened by ELISA and further confirmed by haemagglutination inhibition (HI), which revealed that 3.13% of the chickens had been exposed to WNV, with 0.69% sero-positivity in urban areas compared to 5.56% in peri-urban. Peak sero-prevalence of WNV were reported during the month of July and August with 8.33% each with lowest sero-prevalence being recorded in November (1.39%) and no sero-positive birds from December to April. These results indicate that WNV is one of the actively circulating flaviviruses in Assam, and human febrile and encephalitic cases should be screened for the disease

Japanese Encephalitis Virus Genotype III Strains Detection and Genome Sequencing from Indian Pig and Mosquito Vector

Japanese encephalitis viruses (JEVs) are globally prevalent as deadly pathogens in humans and animals, including pig, horse and cattle. Japanese encephalitis (JE) still remains an important cause of epidemic encephalitis worldwide and exists in a zoonotic transmission cycle. Assam is one of the highly endemic states for JE in India. In the present study, to understand the epidemiological status of JE circulating in pigs and mosquito, particularly in Assam, India, molecular detection of JEV and the genome sequencing of JEV isolates from pigs and mosquitoes was conducted. The genome analysis of two JEV isolates from pigs and mosquitoes revealed 7 and 20 numbers of unique points of polymorphism of nucleotide during alignment of the sequences with other available sequences, respectively. Phylogenetic analysis revealed that the isolates of the present investigation belong to genotype III and are closely related with the strains of neighboring country China. This study highlights the transboundary nature of the JEV genotype III circulation, which maintained the same genotype through mosquito-swine transmission cycles

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Not AvailablePig is considered as one of the major source of livelihood and source of animal protein for the rural poor. The pig sector has enormous potential to upscale the livelihood status of rural masses of the country. Good feed conversion efficiency, shorter generation interval and relatively smaller space requirement are the major attractions for farmers to begin pig rearing. In the backyard farming systems mainly farmers are practicing traditional way of pig rearing. Scientific know-how in pig husbandry is essential for the farmers for increased profit from the pig farming. The ICAR- National Research Centre on pig in Guwahati at Rani was established in the year 2002 to act as a repository of information on pig production and health and to undertake research and transfer the evolved technologies to the client groups. By understanding and adopting these scientific practices, the income from pig farming can be increased significantly. The institute has also taken many steps for preserving the indigenous germplasm of pigs.Not Availabl

Not Available

Not AvailablePig is considered as one of the major source of livelihood and source of animal protein for the rural poor. The pig sector has enormous potential to upscale the livelihood status of rural masses of the country. Good feed conversion efficiency, shorter generation interval and relatively smaller space requirement are the major attractions for farmers to begin pig rearing. In the backyard farming systems mainly farmers are practicing traditional way of pig rearing. Scientific know-how in pig husbandry is essential for the farmers for increased profit from the pig farming. The ICAR- National Research Centre on pig in Guwahati at Rani was established in the year 2002 to act as a repository of information on pig production and health and to undertake research and transfer the evolved technologies to the client groups. The institute also conduct frequent training programmes on scientific pig farming for farmers, entrepreneurs and government officers. By understanding and adopting these scientific practices, the income from pig farming can be increased significantly. The institute has also taken many steps for preserving the indigenous germplasm of pigs.Not Availabl