Dengue is the most important mosquito-borne, human viral disease in many tropical and sub-tropical areas. In India the disease has been essentially described in the form of case series. We reviewed the epidemiology of dengue in India to improve understanding of its evolution in the last 50 years and support the development of effective local prevention and control measures. Early outbreak reports showed a classic epidemic pattern of transmission with sporadic outbreaks, with low to moderate numbers of cases, usually localized to urban centres and neighbouring regions, but occasionally spreading and causing larger epidemics. Trends in recent decades include: larger and more frequent outbreaks; geographic expansion of endemic transmission; spread of the disease from urban to peri-urban and rural areas; an increasing proportion of severe cases and deaths; and progression to hyperendemicity, particularly in large urban areas. The global picture of dengue in India is currently that of a largely endemic country. Understanding demographic differences in infection rates and severity of dengue has important implications for the planning and implementation of effective public health prevention and control measures and targeting of future vaccination campaigns.

The overall dengue seroprevalence suggests that dengue endemicity in India is comparable to that in highly endemic countries of Southeast Asia. Additional prospective studies are required to fully quantify the disease burden, in order to support evidence-based policies for dengue prevention and control in India.

Oral squamous cell carcinoma (OSCC) accounts for 90 % of malignant lesions of oral cavity. The study assessed the potential of Cyfra 21-1 as a tumor marker in OSCC. The study included 50 patients of OSCC to evaluate levels of Cyfra 21-1 in serum and saliva by electrochemiluminescent immunoassay (ECLIA) and CK19 messenger RNA (mRNA) expression in tissue by florescent quantitative real-time reverse transcriptase polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) along with healthy individuals as control. The salivary and serum Cyfra 21-1 levels in patients of OSCC were significantly higher compared to controls (p value < 0.01). There was a 2.75-fold increase in CK19 mRNA expression in OSCC cases compared to controls. A significant positive correlation was found between serum and salivary Cyfra 21-1, serum Cyfra 21-1, and CK19 mRNA expression and between salivary Cyfra 21-1 and CK19 mRNA expression. Among these, correlation between serum and salivary Cyfra 21-1 was highly significant. Salivary and serum Cyfra 21-1 showed significantly elevated levels in grade II OSCC compared to grade I histopathologically. Elevated levels of salivary Cyfra 21-1 were associated with recurrence in OSCC patients. Reverse operating curve constructed using 3 ng/ml as a cutoff for serum Cyfra 21-1 revealed the sensitivity and specificity to be 88 and 78.2 %, respectively. Using a cutoff value of 8.5 ng/ml for salivary Cyfra 21-1, the sensitivity was found to be 93.8 % and specificity 84.3 %. We advocate salivary Cyfra 21-1 as a better diagnostic marker over serum Cyfra 21-1 as well as a potential marker in the prognosis of OSCC.

The Chikungunya virus (CHIKV) is a mosquito-borne Alphavirus, which causes epidemics of fever, rash and polyarthralgia in Africa and Asia. First isolated in 1953 in Tanzania, CHIKV has caused numerous well-documented outbreaks and epidemics in both Africa and South-East Asia. The epidemic of Chikungunya fever that affected the population of La Reunion at Christmas in 2005 will be remembered as the most serious public health crises in the island's history. A widely circulating mutant CHIKV is a possible explanation for the epidemiological pattern of the disease in this region. In this review, we have tried to give the latest information about the present outbreak and have tried to analyse the possible reasons for the same.

The purpose of this study was to determine the age wise prevalence of Hepatitis B virus (HBV) in children under five years and to analyze the relative importance of horizontal or vertical transmission. This study included 400 children in the age group of less than five years attending the outpatient department of pediatrics with minor complaints. History of HBV immunization was taken as the exclusion criteria. All the samples were tested for Hepatitis B surface antigen (HBsAg) and anti HBs using commercial ELISA kits. Liver function tests were performed on all the HBsAg positive patients. Hepatits B nucleocapsid antigen (HBeAg) was detected in few HBsAg positive mothers. Overall HBsAg positivity in children below five years was 2.25%. There was no statistically significant difference in HBsAg positivity in the different age groups by chi square test. HBsAg positivity in mothers was 4.25%. However only in three cases the pair of mother and child were both positive for HBsAg. The mean anti HBs positivity in children was 23.75%. There was no statistically significant difference in the anti HBs positivity in different age groups of children. The observation that there is no statistically significant difference in the prevalence of HBV infection (HBsAg and HBs) amongst different age groups of children below five years signifies that a large proportion of HBV infection in children of this age is acquired via vertical transmission. It is also indicated that this mode of disease transmission is responsible for the majority of chronic carriers. Universal immunization of all infants is desirable to decrease the carrier pool and it is inferred from the present study that Hepatitis B immunization should begin at birth to have greater impact.