Cost-effectiveness of vector control for supplementing mass drug administration for eliminating lymphatic filariasis in India.

Background/methodology: Despite progress using mass drug administration (MDA), lymphatic filariasis (LF) remains a major public health issue in India. Vector control could potentially augment MDA towards LF elimination. We conducted a cost-effectiveness analysis of MDA alone and MDA together with vector control single (VCS) modality or vector control integrated (VCI) modalities.

Community-based control of Aedes aegypti by adoption of eco-health methods in Chennai City, India.

Background: Dengue is highly endemic in Chennai city, South India, in spite of continuous vector control efforts. This intervention study was aimed at establishing the efficacy as well as the favouring and limiting factors relating to a community-based environmental intervention package to control the dengue vector Aedes aegypti.

Methods: A cluster randomized controlled trial was designed to measure the outcome of a new vector control package and process analysis; different data collection tools were used to determine the performance.

Estimating dengue vector abundance in the wet and dry season: implications for targeted vector control in urban and peri-urban Asia.

Background: Research has shown that the classical Stegomyia indices (or "larval indices") of the dengue vector Aedes aegypti reflect the absence or presence of the vector but do not provide accurate measures of adult mosquito density. In contrast, pupal indices as collected in pupal productivity surveys are a much better proxy indicator for adult vector abundance. However, it is unknown when it is most optimal to conduct pupal productivity surveys, in the wet or in the dry season or in both, to inform control services about the most productive water container types and if this pattern varies among different ecological settings.

The treatment of visceral leishmaniasis (kala-azar) in India: no obvious signs of long-term success.

In India, the eastern state of Bihar is particularly badly affected by visceral leishmaniasis (VL). It was in Bihar in the 1980s that the first clear signs of resistance to pentavalent antimonials, which had then been the standard antileishmanial treatment for several decades, were observed. New drugs and new formulations of old drugs have since been developed for the treatment of VL.

Impact of weather variables on mosquitoes infected with Japanese encephalitis virus in Kurnool district, Andhra Pradesh.

Objective: To assess the virus infection in mosquitoes during different seasons and correlated with various climatic factors.

Methods: The field collected vectors were screened for Japanese encephalitis (JE) virus after dessication using ELISA method. Most of the positive pools were recorded from Culex tritaeniorhynchus (Cx.

Eco-bio-social determinants of dengue vector breeding: a multicountry study in urban and periurban Asia.

Objective: To study dengue vector breeding patterns under a variety of conditions in public and private spaces; to explore the ecological, biological and social (eco-bio-social) factors involved in vector breeding and viral transmission, and to define the main implications for vector control.

Methods: In each of six Asian cities or periurban areas, a team randomly selected urban clusters for conducting standardized household surveys, neighbourhood background surveys and entomological surveys. They collected information on vector breeding sites, people's knowledge, attitudes and practices surrounding dengue, and the characteristics of the study areas.

Temporal variation in the susceptibility of Culex tritaeniorhynchus (Diptera: Culicidae) to Japanese encephalitis virus in an endemic area of Tamil Nadu, South India.

The study area, Cuddalore, is one of the endemic districts for Japanese encephalitis (JE) in southern India and there is a strong seasonality in JE case incidence, as well as JE virus (JEV) infection in the principal vector Culex (Culex) tritaeniorhynchus Giles. In a longitudinal 3-year study (July 2003 to June 2006), we determined the susceptibility of wild-caught female Cx. tritaeniorhynchus for JEV infection over several seasons from several villages.

Chikungunya virus isolated in Lakshadweep islands in the Indian Ocean: evidence of the Central/East African genotype.

Virological investigation was carried out to determine the etiology of suspected Chikungunya fever among humans reported in the Lakshadweep islands in the Indian Ocean. Three out of 23 acute sera samples showed cytopathological changes in Vero cell lines. Further, indirect immunofluorescence antibody test and reverse transcriptase-polymerase chain reaction studies demonstrated the Chikungunya virus etiology during the episode.

Field- and laboratory-based active dengue surveillance in Chennai, Tamil Nadu, India: observations before and during the 2001 dengue epidemic.

Background: Dengue cases are reported every year in the city of Chennai, Tamil Nadu, India. Since April 2001, longitudinal field- and laboratory-based active dengue surveillance has been carried out in Chennai to study dengue trends.

Method: A serologic survey of people in Chennai using the hemagglutination inhibition test (HIT) was performed to determine evidence of prior exposure to dengue virus infections.