Japanese B virus encephalitis in India--a growing problem.

Epidemic Japanese B Virus encephalitis is increasingly a major cause of mortality and morbidity in wide areas of SE Asia, but remains largely unknown to most western physicians. The very high incidence of permanent and disabling neurological sequelae has considerable socioeconomic impact. In view of the magnitude of the 1984 epidemic in India and the increasing possibility of the disease spreading to western countries, current knowledge of both epidemiological and clinicopathological features is reviewed, and illustrated by selected cases seen in a small hospital in NE India during the 1984 epidemic.