• Sudhansu Sekhar Sahu, Smrutidhara Dash, Thankachy Sonia, Subramaniam Muthukumaravel, Thirumal Sankari, Kasinathan Gunasekaran, and Purushothaman Jambulingam.
• Vector Control Research Centre, Indian Council of Medical Research, Medical Complex, Indira Nagar, Puducherry, India.
• Mem. Inst. Oswaldo Cruz. 2018 May 14; 113 (6): e170499.

BackgroundA severe outbreak of Japanese encephalitis (JE) and acute encephalitis syndrome (AES) with high case fatality was reported from Malkangiri district of Odisha state, India during September to November 2016 affecting 336 children with 103 deaths.ObjectivesThe purpose of this study was to investigate the outbreak in the light of entomological determinants.MethodsEntomological investigation was carried out in 48 villages from four mostly affected Community Health Centres (CHCs) of Malkangiri district. Dusk collections of resting adults was done in villages from indoor and outdoor sites to record the density of mosquito species, including the known JE vectors, feeding behaviour, parity, dusk index and infection status with JE virus (JEV).FindingsThe per man hour density and dusk index of JE vector species varied from 2.5 to 24.0 and 0.81 to 7.62, respectively in study villages. A total of 1136 mosquitoes belonging to six vector species were subjected to PCR and one pool of Culex vishnui was found to be positive for JEV.ConclusionThe JE transmission in Malkangiri district was confirmed. Thorough screening of human blood samples of JE/AES suspected cases and JE vector mosquitoes for the presence of JEV during rainy season every year is recommended.

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