Azad to launch JE vaccine today

India will soon be better armed to combat Japanese encephalitis (JE), a viral disease that affects the brain. Union health minister Ghulam Nabi Azad will launch the first ever indigenous JE vaccine on Friday. Produced under PPP by Bharat Biotech with Pune’s National Institute of Virology (NIV), the vaccine is effective against the Indian strain causing JE. The virus has been collected from Kolar in Karnataka-a hotbed for JE infections. The trials started in 2011 after which marketing clearance was taken from the drug controller general of India (DCGI). India lacks strong anti-viral therapy to combat the deadly fever. So far vaccines imported from China have been the only preventive measure. Indian vaccine is greatly expected to help protect the population against the deadly virus. The new vaccine offers cross protection against other serotypes. Concern for combating the disease has grown. In 2011, keeping in view the increasing number of cases of JE a committee of group of ministers was also constituted by the Prime Minister to look into the issue. The growing numbers made the experts concerned too as an intensive research work at Gorakhpur field unit of National Institute of Virology, Pune resulted in isolation and detection of non-JE viruses, namely, entero-viruses which are water-borne. “It is not only JE virus which is circulating in UP but there are other viruses too. The state government has been informed about the new findings as well,” said one of the experts. Officials say as regard to prevention, the JE vaccination campaign carried out in 2006-07 in 7 most endemic districts of eastern Uttar Pradesh was evaluated and it was decided to carry out second round of the vaccination campaign in these 7 districts with close monitoring. The second vaccination campaign was completed in 2010 with reported coverage of over 90 pre cent.