No abstract

The COVID -19 pandemic which has affected 209 countries/ territories, infected more than a million persons and claimed more than 50 thousands human lives worldwide (till 4 th April, 2020). It is caused by SARS-CoV-2 a novel virus genetically similar to SARS virus and reported first in Wuhan, China. In India, the first case was reported in January and until 5 th April, 2020 it has spread to 29 States/UTs, affected more than 3 thousand. The fate of this disease in India is to be determined by three elements of epidemiology, i.e. agent, host and environment. The agent is novel, but it has been reported that there are two strains of SARS-CoV-2 under circulation out of which one is more aggressive and spread quickly. As the susceptibility to the virus is there in Indian population, like other countries but its presentation in hosts which range from asymptomatic to severe pneumonia would be affected by the innate immunity of hosts and small proportion of population belonging to high risk group. In addition, the weather of India may also act as an impediment to the fatalities this disease may cause. The measures taken by India first to restrict the entry of this agent in community and further to interrupt its transmission are exemplary. However, still there is need to be future ready and plan strategically, learning from success and failure of other countries. In order to tackle this pandemic, there is need to strengthen the existing medical infrastructure to take care of advance stage of COVID-19 patients and quality epidemiological investigation of COVID -19 cases at the community level.

Introduction: Acute Encephalitis Syndrome (AES) is a disease characterized by fever and mental confusion, disorientation, delirium, or coma. It could be due to various causes such as viruses, bacteria, fungus, parasites, spirochetes, chemical and toxins. Objective: Epidemiological investigation of acute encephalitis syndrome occurred in Muzaffarpur, Bihar in 2011. Methods: This epidemiological investigation was done by a team consisting of experts from various disciplines. The team visited Muzaffarpur, from 14 th to 20 th July 2011 and reviewed the situation of deaths among children due to AES, as directed by the Authorities. Results: A total of 147 cases of fever with altered sensorium were admitted between 11 th June to 18 th July 2011 in a private hospital and a Medical College Hospital of Muzaffarpur. Out of these, 54 patients died indicating case fatality rate of 36.73%. Evidences suggest that there were increased chances of contacts between cases and wild rats during the period of occurrence of outbreak. Etiological agent could not be identified by laboratory tests. Conclusion: Clinico-epidemiological and environmental evidence supports the diagnosis of Acute Encephalitis Syndrome which has significant mortality, affecting predominantly rural population with poor sanitation and presence of wild rats.

No abstract

The novel disease COVID-19 has reached to 33 States/ Union Territories (UT) of India causing more than 49,000 infections and 1600 deaths till 6 th May, 2020. Various measures have been undertaken to control and arrest the spread of this disease in country which include invocation of Epidemic Act, 1897, social distancing, nationwide lockdown, enhanced active and passive surveillance. COVID-19 containment strategy for single large area with multiple foci and cluster is being implemented. The real war is being fought by the silent warriors, i.e. Public Health workforce of India at community level, to arrest the local transmission of COVID-19 following mapping & micro-planning as given in National guidelines. As the quality implementation of these field activities is essential to control this disease, several Central Rapid Response Teams (CRRT) were constituted to visit States/ UTs to provide assistance in effective implementation of same. The present article is compilation of best public health practices observed by CRRT, Haryana, State, which were followed to conduct surveillance, monitoring, awareness generation, coordination etc. at community level, with objective to enable its replication by other States/ UTs.