Acute Encephalitis Syndrome-The Socio-economic Burden in India

Abstract

Acute encephalitis syndrome is a clinical condition caused by infection with Japanese encephalitis virus or other infectious and noninfectious causes. Acute poses a great public health problem in India, occurring both in epidemics and sporadically. Seasonal outbreaks of acute encephalitis syndrome occur with striking regularity in India and lead to substantial mortality. Several viruses, endemic in many parts of India, account for AES. Although Japanese encephalitis virus is a key aetiological agent for AES in India, and has attracted countrywide attention, many recent studies suggest that enteroviruses and rhabdo viruses might account for outbreaks of AES. It is a neurological disorder which affects the brain and the limbic system when a specific strain of virus or a bacteria attacks the body. Encephalitis is an inflammation of the brain tissue. Once the virus enters inside the blood, it starts migrating to the brain tissues and multiplies itself into numbers. As soon as the signal reaches to our immune system, it generates a response to it in the form of inflamed brain or we can say swelled up brain. When this self-generated response and the infection combines, this leads to viral encephalitis and it majorly affects the spinal cord and our central nervous system causing damage to the brain cells through virus-infected blood vessels.