Recent advances in Japanese encephalitis

F1000Res. 2017 Mar 13:6:259. doi: 10.12688/f1000research.9561.1. eCollection 2017.

Abstract

Japanese encephalitis is a flaviviral disease that is endemic to the South, Southeast Asia, and Asia Oceania regions. Given that about 60% of the world's population (about 7.4 billion) resides in this region (about 4.4 billion), this disease poses a significant threat to global health. Active vaccination campaigns conducted in endemic countries have led to a decrease in the number of reported cases over the years. In this article, we strive to briefly highlight recent advances in understanding the role of microRNAs in disease pathology, focus on providing brief summaries of recent clinical trials in the field of Japanese encephalitis therapeutics, and review the current prophylactic strategies.

Keywords: Japanese encephalitis; Minocycline; flavivirus; microRNA; vaccine.

Publication types

  • Review

Grants and funding

AB is a recipient of a Tata Innovation Fellowship (BT/HRD/35/01/02/2014) from the Department of Biotechnology, Government of India.