KOCHI: Following reports of Acute Encephalitis Syndrome (AES) cases in Malappuram and Kozhikode districts, a team from the National Centre for Disease Control (NCDC) will soon visit the state. AES, which include Japanese Encephalitis Virus (JEV), West Nile virus (WNV), Nipah (NiV), Kyasanur Forest Disease (KFD) and others, is a group of clinical neurological manifestation caused by a wide range of viruses, bacteria, fungus, parasites, spirochaetes, chemical and toxins.
“There is a spike in AES cases at Kozhikode and Malappuram districts. It was in this backdrop a proposal for conducting an outbreak investigation and epidemiological studies was presented to the NCDC,” said Dr Meenakshy V, additional director of health services (Public Health).
According to her, the said study will help to introduce the JEV vaccine at Kozhikode and Malappuram. It has been pointed out the changes effected due to the floods and its impact on the transmission of vector-borne disease will have to be studied. For this, it is learnt the department is also mulling an eco-epidemiological study by organisations like ICMR.
“There is no conclusive evidence to state AES like JEV and KFD were due to the atmospheric temperature variations or due to the impact of the floods. For that, epidemiological studies by NCDC or ICMR are needed,” said Meenakshy.