A decision support tool for risk-benefit analysis of Japanese encephalitis vaccine in travellers.

Background: During pre-travel consultations, clinicians and travellers face the challenge of weighing the risks verus benefits of Japanese encephalitis (JE) vaccination due to the high cost of the vaccine, low incidence in travellers (~1 in 1 million), but potentially severe consequences (~30% case-fatality rate). Personalised JE risk assessment based on the travellers' demographics and travel itinerary is challenging using standard risk matrices. We developed an interactive digital tool to estimate risks of JE infection and severe health outcomes under different scenarios to facilitate shared decision-making between clinicians and travellers.

Insecticide resistance compromises the control of Aedes aegypti in Bangladesh.

Background: With no effective drugs or widely available vaccines, dengue control in Bangladesh is dependent on targeting the primary vector Aedes aegypti with insecticides and larval source management. Despite these interventions, the dengue burden is increasing in Bangladesh, and the country experienced its worst outbreak in 2019 with 101 354 hospitalized cases. This may be partially facilitated by the presence of intense insecticide resistance in vector populations.

Carbon-Based Ternary Nanocomposite: Bullet Type ZnO-SWCNT-CuO for Substantial Solar-Driven Photocatalytic Decomposition of Aqueous Organic Contaminants.

A facile two-step synthesis of ternary hetero-composites of ZnO, CuO, and single-walled carbon nanotubes (SWCNTs) was developed through a recrystallization process followed by annealing. A series of nanocomposites were prepared by varying the weight ratio of copper(II) acetate hydrate and zinc(II) acetate dihydrate and keeping the weight ratio of SWCNTs constant. The results revealed the formation of heterojunctions (ZnO-SWCNT-CuO, ZSC) of three crystal structures adjacent to each other, forming a ternary wurtzite-structured nanoparticles along with defects.

Facile Preparation of a Bispherical Silver-Carbon Photocatalyst and Its Enhanced Degradation Efficiency of Methylene Blue, Rhodamine B, and Methyl Orange under UV Light.

The combination of organic and inorganic materials is attracting attention as a photocatalyst that promotes the decomposition of organic dyes. A facile thermal procedure has been proposed to produce spherical silver nanoparticles (AgNPs), carbon nanospheres (CNSs), and a bispherical AgNP-CNS nanocomposite. The AgNPs and CNSs were each synthesized from silver acetate and glucose via single- and two-step annealing processes under sealed conditions, respectively.

Immunogenicity of a single fractional intradermal dose of Japanese encephalitis live attenuated chimeric vaccine.

Background: Japanese encephalitis (JE) is endemic in Asia and the western Pacific. Vaccination is recommended for travellers to endemic regions, but the high cost of the vaccine is a major barrier to uptake.

Methods: A quasi-experimental, pre-post intervention clinical trial without a control group was conducted to assess the immunogenicity and safety of intradermal (ID) JE vaccine.

Japanese Encephalitis Emergence in Australia: The Potential Population at Risk.

In Australia, Japanese encephalitis virus circulated in tropical north Queensland between 1995 and 2005. In 2022, a dramatic range expansion across the southern states has resulted in 30 confirmed human cases and 6 deaths. We discuss the outbreak drivers and estimate the potential size of the human population at risk.

The Emergence of Japanese Encephalitis in Australia and the Implications for a Vaccination Strategy.

Japanese encephalitis (JE) is the leading cause of viral encephalitis in Asia. Until 2022, only six locally transmitted human JE cases had been reported in Australia; five in northern Queensland and one in the Northern Territory. Thus, JE was mainly considered to be a disease of travellers.

Persistence of antibodies, boostability, and interchangeability of Japanese encephalitis vaccines: A systematic review and dose-response meta-analysis.

Background: The burden of Japanese encephalitis (JE) is substantial and is arguably one of the most serious viral encephalitic diseases with high case fatality and no specific treatment. JE vaccines are the only available mean to prevent the disease; however, the long-term persistence of antibodies, boostability, and interchangeability between different vaccine classes are not well understood.

Methods: To summarise the evidence, PubMed, Embase, and Cochrane CENTRAL were systematically searched from their inception to March 2021.

The impact of COVID-19 outbreak and perceptions of people towards household waste management chain in Nepal.

The spread of COVID-19 is posing significant challenges to the household (HH) waste management sectors putting waste personnel and concerned bodies under massive pressure. The chain of collection, segregation, recycling, and disposal of household generated wastes is interrupted. This study aimed to assess how the household waste management chain was disrupted by novel coronavirus in Nepal and find the perception of the people towards the existing household waste management system (HHWMS).

Pharmacologic activities of phytosteroids in inflammatory diseases: Mechanism of action and therapeutic potentials.

Natural products and their derivatives are known to be useful for treating numerous diseases since ancient times. Because of their high therapeutic potentials, the use of different medicinal plants is possible to treat varied inflammation-mediated chronic diseases. Among natural products, phytosteroids have emerged as promising compounds mostly because they have diverse pharmacological activities.

The environmental and ecological determinants of elevated Ross River Virus exposure in koalas residing in urban coastal landscapes.

Koala populations in many areas of Australia have declined sharply in response to habitat loss, disease and the effects of climate change. Koalas may face further morbidity from endemic mosquito-borne viruses, but the impact of such viruses is currently unknown. Few seroprevalence studies in the wild exist and little is known of the determinants of exposure.

A micro-PRNT for the detection of Ross River virus antibodies in mosquito blood meals: A useful tool for inferring transmission pathways.

Introduction: Many arboviruses of public health significance are maintained in zoonotic cycles with complex transmission pathways. The presence of serum antibody against arboviruses in vertebrates provides evidence of their historical exposure but reveals nothing about the vector-reservoir relationship. Moreover, collecting blood or tissue samples from vertebrate hosts is ethically and logistically challenging.

First evidence of concurrent enzootic and endemic transmission of Ross River virus in the absence of marsupial reservoirs in Fiji.

Background: Ross River virus (RRV) is a zoonotic alphavirus transmitted by several mosquito species. Until recently, endemic transmission was only considered possible in the presence of marsupial reservoirs.

Methods: RRV seroprevalence was investigated in placental mammals (including horses, cows, goats, pigs, dogs, rats, and mice) in Fiji, where there are no marsupials.

Neglected Australian Arboviruses Associated With Undifferentiated Febrile Illnesses.

Infections with commonly occurring Australian thropod-rne arboviruses such as Ross River virus (RRV) and Barmah Forest virus (BFV) are diagnosed routinely by pathology laboratories in Australia. Others, such as Murray Valley encephalitis (MVEV) and Kunjin (KUNV) virus infections may be diagnosed by specialist reference laboratories. Although Alfuy (ALFV), Edge Hill (EHV), Kokobera (KOKV), Sindbis (SINV), and Stratford (STRV) viruses are known to infect humans in Australia, all are considered 'neglected.

Infection of Western Gray Kangaroos () with Australian Arboviruses Associated with Human Infection.

More than 75 arboviruses (arthropod-borne viruses) have been identified in Australia. While Alfuy virus (ALFV), Barmah Forest virus (BFV), Edge Hill virus (EHV), Kokobera virus (KOKV), Murray Valley encephalitis virus (MVEV), Sindbis virus (SINV), Ross River virus (RRV), Stratford virus (STRV), and West Nile virus strain Kunjin (KUNV) have been associated with human infection, there remains a paucity of data regarding their respective transmission cycles and any potential nonhuman vertebrate hosts. It is likely that these viruses are maintained in zoonotic cycles involving native animals rather than solely by human-to-human transmission.

Identification of the source of blood meals in mosquitoes collected from north-eastern Australia.

Background: More than 70 arboviruses have been identified in Australia and the transmission cycles of most are poorly understood. While there is an extensive list of arthropods from which these viruses have been recovered, far less is known about the non-human hosts that may be involved in the transmission cycles of these viruses and the relative roles of different mosquito species in cycles of transmission involving different hosts. Some of the highest rates of human infection with zoonotic arboviruses, such as Ross River (RRV) and Barmah Forest (BFV) viruses, occur in coastal regions of north-eastern Australia.

Confronting the Emerging Threat to Public Health in Northern Australia of Neglected Indigenous Arboviruses.

In excess of 75 arboviruses have been identified in Australia, some of which are now well established as causative agents of debilitating diseases. These include Ross River virus, Barmah Forest virus, and Murray Valley encephalitis virus, each of which may be detected by both antibody-based recognition and molecular typing. However, for most of the remaining arboviruses that may be associated with pathology in humans, routine tests are not available to diagnose infection.

Neglected Australian Arboviruses and Undifferentiated Febrile Illness: Addressing Public Health Challenges Arising From the 'Developing Northern Australia' Government Policy.

The Australian Government is currently promoting the development of Northern Australia, with an associated increase in the local population. Consequent to this is the public health threat posed by heightened human exposure to many previously neglected arboviruses that are indigenous to the region. This initiative to support economic activity in the tropical north of the continent is leading to the accelerated expansion of an infection-naïve human population into hitherto un-encountered ecosystems inhabited by reservoir animals and vectors for these arboviruses.

Neglected Australian arboviruses: quam gravis?

At least 75 arboviruses have been identified from Australia. Most have a zoonotic transmission cycle, maintained in the environment by cycling between arthropod vectors and susceptible mammalian or avian hosts. The primary arboviruses that cause human disease in Australia are Ross River, Barmah Forest, Murray Valley encephalitis, Kunjin and dengue.

The epidemiology of dengue infection: Harnessing past experience and current knowledge to support implementation of future control strategies.

Dengue is the most important mosquito-borne viral infection of humans. Although outbreaks of disease which are now recognized as clinically consistent with dengue have been reported for centuries, it was not until half a century ago that laboratory identification of dengue viruses as the etiological agent of febrile illness was achieved. This debilitating and sometimes fatal disease is widely distributed in >125 countries in tropical and subtropical zones of the world.

The global spread of Zika virus: is public and media concern justified in regions currently unaffected?

Background: Zika virus, an Aedes mosquito-borne flavivirus, is fast becoming a worldwide public health concern following its suspected association with over 4000 recent cases of microcephaly among newborn infants in Brazil.

Discussion: Prior to its emergence in Latin America in 2015-2016, Zika was known to exist at a relatively low prevalence in parts of Africa, Asia and the Pacific islands. An extension of its apparent global dispersion may be enabled by climate conditions suitable to support the population growth of A.