title: A novel low-cost approach to estimate the incidence of Japanese encephalitis in the catchment area of three hospitals in Bangladesh.
abstract: Acute meningoencephalitis syndrome surveillance was initiated in three medical college hospitals in Bangladesh in October 2007 to identify Japanese encephalitis (JE) cases. We estimated the population-based incidence of JE in the three hospitals' catchment areas by adjusting the hospital-based crude incidence of JE by the proportion of catchment area meningoencephalitis cases who were admitted to surveillance hospitals. Instead of a traditional house-to-house survey, which is expensive for a disease with low frequency, we attempted a novel approach to identify meningoencephalitis cases in the hospital catchment area through social networks among the community residents. The estimated JE incidence was 2.7/100,000 population in Rajshahi (95% confidence interval [CI] = 1.8-4.9), 1.4 in Khulna (95% CI = 0.9-4.1), and 0.6 in Chittagong (95% CI = 0.4-0.9). Bangladesh should consider a pilot project to introduce JE vaccine in high-incidence areas.
authors.affiliation: International Centre for Diarrheal Disease Research, Bangladesh, Government of the People's Republic of Bangladesh. repon@icddrb.org
authors.forename: Repon C
authors.initials: RC
authors.lastname: Paul
authors.forename: Mahmudur
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Rahman
authors.forename: Emily S
authors.initials: ES
authors.lastname: Gurley
authors.forename: M Jahangir
authors.initials: MJ
authors.lastname: Hossain
authors.forename: Serguei
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Diorditsa
authors.forename: Asm Mainul
authors.initials: AM
authors.lastname: Hasan
authors.forename: Sultana S
authors.initials: SS
authors.lastname: Banu
authors.forename: Asm
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Alamgir
authors.forename: Muhammad Aziz
authors.initials: MA
authors.lastname: Rahman
authors.forename: Hardeep
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Sandhu
authors.forename: Marc
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Fischer
authors.forename: Stephen P
authors.initials: SP
authors.lastname: Luby
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D001459:Bangladesh / Q000453:epidemiology; D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D004672:Encephalitis, Japanese / Q000453:epidemiology*; D005260:Female; D006761:Hospitals; D006801:Humans; D015994:Incidence; D008297:Male; D011159:Population Surveillance / Q000379:methods; D011634:Public Health / Q000191:economics