Publications by authors named "Deepa Mehta"

Japanese encephalitis virus (JEV) is the leading cause of viral encephalitis in the Asia-Pacific region. Amplification of JEV in pigs is a potent driver for spillover of the infection to humans, and hence monitoring of virus dynamics in pigs can provide insights into JEV ecology. To study the dynamics of natural JEV infection in a tropical region, two groups of immunologically naïve pigs consisting of six animals per group were kept as sentinels on two different farms in the district of Thanjavur, Tamil Nadu, India.

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Article Synopsis
  • Japanese encephalitis (JE) is common in the Asia-Pacific region, but there’s limited data on its prevalence in India, particularly in swine populations across diverse climates.
  • The study collected 1205 serum samples from different Indian states, revealing an overall JE virus (JEV) seroprevalence of 17.7%, with the highest rates found in Assam state at 30.2%.
  • Seasonal variations indicated that seroprevalence peaked post-monsoon, while factors like swine population density and per capita paddy cultivation significantly influenced the odds of JEV infection.
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Japanese Encephalitis (JE) is a mosquito borne re-emerging viral zoonotic disease. Sero-conversion in swine occurs 2-3 weeks before human infection, thus swine act as a suitable sentinel for predicting JE outbreaks in humans. The present study was undertaken with the objective of developing immunochromatographic strip (ICS) assay to detect recent infection of Japanese Encephalitis virus (JEV) in swine population.

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Background & Objectives: Swine is a good sentinel for forecast of Japanese encephalitis virus (JEV) outbreaks in humans. The present study was envisaged with objectives to know the sero-conversion period of JEV and to assess the prevalence of JEV in swine population of western Uttar Pradesh state of India.

Methods: A total of 252 swine serum samples were screened using IgM ELISA over the period of one year to determine the sero-conversion rate and compared seasonally to check the transmission peak of virus.

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Viral quasispecies are distinct but closely related mutants formed by the disparity in viral genomes due to recombination, mutations, competition, and selection pressure. Theoretical derivation for the origin of a quasispecies is owed to the error-prone replication by polymerase and mutants of RNA replicators. Here, we briefly addressed the theoretical and mathematical origin of quasispecies and their dynamics.

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Swine is considered as a suitable sentinel to predict Japanese encephalitis virus (JEV) outbreaks in humans. The present study was undertaken to determine the circulating genotypes of JEV in swine population of India. A total of 702 swine serum samples from four states of western, northern, northern-temperate, and north-eastern zones of India were screened by real-time RT-PCR targeting envelope gene of JEV, which showed positivity of 35.

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Japanese encephalitis (JE) is a mosquito borne viral zoonotic disease and JE virus (JEV) is responsible for causing several children deaths every year in India. Since 1978, cases of JE have been reported from Gorakhpur district of Uttar Pradesh state annually. The knowledge on the role played by wildlife reservoirs in the sylvatic transmission and maintenance of JE virus remains limited.

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Nucleocapsid protein (N protein) is the primary antigen of the virus for development of sensitive diagnostic assays of COVID-19. In this paper, we demonstrate the significant impact of dimerization of the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) N-protein on sensitivity of enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) based diagnostics. The expressed purified protein from E.

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Japanese encephalitis (JE) is a re-emerging mosquito borne disease, for which equines are most susceptible amongst all animals. Detection of specific immunoglobulin 'M' (IgM) is considered as an ideal way to diagnose recent JE virus infection in equines due to low virus load and short-term viremia. The present study was undertaken to develop a sensitive and specific recombinant NS1 protein based indirect IgM-ELISA and IgM capture (MAC) ELISA to diagnose recent infection of JEV in equines.

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