Possible high risk of transmission of the Nipah virus in South and South East Asia: a review.

Nipah virus (NiV) is a zoonotic, single-stranded RNA virus from the family Paramyxoviridae, genus Henipavirus. NiV is a biosafety-level-4 pathogen that is mostly spread by Pteropus species, which serve as its natural reservoir host. NiV is one of the major public health challenges in South and South East Asia.

Inter-provincial disparity of COVID-19 transmission and control in Nepal.

Despite the global efforts to mitigate the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, the disease transmission and the effective controls still remain uncertain as the outcome of the epidemic varies from place to place. In this regard, the province-wise data from Nepal provides a unique opportunity to study the effective control strategies. This is because (a) some provinces of Nepal share an open-border with India, resulting in a significantly high inflow of COVID-19 cases from India; (b) despite the inflow of a considerable number of cases, the local spread was quite controlled until mid-June of 2020, presumably due to control policies implemented; and (c) the relaxation of policies caused a rapid surge of the COVID-19 cases, providing a multi-phasic trend of disease dynamics.

Modeling transmission dynamics of rabies in Nepal.

Even though vaccines against rabies are available, rabies still remains a burden killing a significant number of humans as well as domestic and wild animals in many parts of the world, including Nepal. In this study, we develop a mathematical model to describe transmission dynamics of rabies in Nepal. In particular, an indirect interspecies transmission from jackals to humans through dogs, which is relevant to the context of Nepal, is one of the novel features of our model.

Chronic Pain and Associated Factors in India and Nepal: A Pilot Study of the Vanderbilt Global Pain Survey.

Background: Evaluation and treatment of chronic pain worldwide are limited by the lack of standardized assessment tools incorporating consistent definitions of pain chronicity and specific queries of known social and psychological risk factors for chronic pain. The Vanderbilt Global Pain Survey (VGPS) was developed as a tool to address these concerns, specifically in the low- and middle-income countries where global burden is highest.

Methods: The VGPS was developed using standardized and cross-culturally validated metrics, including the Brief Pain Inventory and World Health Organization Disability Assessment Scale, as well as the Pain Catastrophizing Scale, the Fibromyalgia Survey Questionnaire along with queries about pain attitudes to assess the prevalence of chronic pain and disability along with its psychosocial and emotional associations.