Japanese encephalitis (JE) is an arthropod borne viral disease. Children are most commonly affected in Southeast Asian region showing symptoms of central nervous system with several complications and death. The clinical characteristics and outcomes in pediatric JE patients hospitalized with acute encephalitis syndrome (AES) are still poorly understood. A prospective study was conducted in pediatric ward of Assam Medical College Hospital to evaluate the clinical profile and outcome of JE in children. A total of 223 hospitalized AES cases were enrolled during March to December 2012. Serum and cerebro spinal fluids were tested for presence of JE specific IgM antibody. 67 (30%) were found to be JE positive. The most common presenting symptoms in JE patients were fever (100%), altered sensorium (83.58%), seizure (82.08%), headache (41.79%), and vomiting (29.85%). Signs of meningeal irritation were present in 55.22% of cases. Around 40.29%, JE patients had GCS ≤ 8. Among the JE patients, 14.7% died before discharge. The complete recoveries were observed in 63.9% of cases, while 21.3% had some sort of disability at the time of discharge. JE is still a major cause of AES in children in this part of India. These significant findings thus seek attentions of the global community to combat JE in children.

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Background: Adolescence is a vulnerable period for sexually transmitted diseases (STDs) because of curiosity, peer pressure, and lack of awareness. Objective: To assess the awareness regarding STDs in adolescents of urban slums of Jorhat district. Material and Methods: Community-based cross sectional study where 261 adolescents were interviewed using a predesigned, pre-tested proforma. Results: Among 261 adolescents, 74.7% had knowledge about STDs. Maximum awareness was seen in adolescents who were students (84.6%) and also in those belonging to the upper lower socioeconomic class (87.5%). Most of the adolescents (48.3%) knew urethral discharge as a symptom of STD. Briefly, 55.17% adolescents felt that STDs can be prevented by the use of condom. Interestingly, 77% of the respondents felt that they should know more about STD and should be taught about STDs in school. Television (66.7%) was the most common source of information on STDs followed by friends (57.5%), newspaper (25.5%), and other means (17%). Conclusion: Correct scientific information should be disseminated to adolescent in both formal and informal settings so that they do not develop misconceptions. More awareness should be disseminated at schools, through mass media and a more friendly relationship is needed from parents.

Background:Globally, 2.3 billion people still do not have basic sanitation facilities such as toilets or latrines. Inadequate sanitation is estimated to cause 280 000 diarrhoeal deaths annually. Tea garden population belonging mostly to lower socio economic class, often lacks access to basic safe drinking water and sanitation. This study aims to assess the availability and utilization of sanitation facilities amongst the tea garden population. Methods:A Community based descriptive cross sectional study was conducted among the people residing in the lines of tea gardens of Jorhat district. Using multistage cluster sampling a total of 540 eligible subjects were selected for our study and they were interviewed using a pre-designed pre-tested schedule. Results:In our study, sanitation facilities were available in 58.9% households of which 83.1% were sanitary type and 69.7% latrines were functional. Out of the 318 respondents who have latrine, 61.1% reported that they use latrine regularly while 64.1% study respondents had the practice of open air defecation. Conclusions:The availability of sanitation facility and latrine utilization rate of the households were not satisfactory. This reflects that various schemes related to sanitation that are planned and implemented by Government have not been reached to the majority of tea tribe population. So an urgent call has to be made to all stakeholders to work in close collaboration to ensure access and utilization of sanitation facilities among the vulnerable tea plantation community.

Background: Numerous factors are associated with the access and utilization of health care services. These factors along with the preferences of the farmers are responsible for the health seeking behavior of farming community. This study aims to understand the health seeking behavior of the farmers and the factors influencing their behaviour in a rural block of Assam. Methods: A community based cross sectional study was done in a rural block of Jorhat district, Assam among a sample of 400 farmers. A pre designed pretested proforma was used to collect the data. Information was obtained on the demographic variables, health seeking behavior and the factors that may affect health seeking behavior. Results were analyzed using percentage and proportions. Results: The study revealed that respiratory tract infection (54.25%) was the most common cause of morbidity among farmers followed by musculoskeletal problems (23.25%) and gastrointestinal tract ailments (11.75%). Majority of the farmers preferred the government health facilities (62%) than the private practitioners (17%) for seeking treatment. Around 64% respondents sought health care only when their health conditions were severely affected. Financial constraints (43.25%) and lack of time (29.25%) was observed to be major impediment in utilization of health care services. Children were given most priority in seeking treatment at the time of illness (68.75%). Conclusions: Government health care facilities were preferred by most respondents due to low cost of services. Behavior seeking healthcare was mostly influenced by financial constraints.