News in Short

• According to a study by the ICMR-National Institute of Virology, the efficacy of immunization vaccination is around 86.7%.

Japanese Encephalitis Vaccination:

• The vaccine was introduced as a single dose at 16–18 months in the routine immunization schedule during 2010–12. 
• In 2013, an additional dose was offered to 9–12 months of age.
  • The vaccine contains live, attenuated, recombinant Japanese encephalitis virus.

About Japanese Encephalitis(JE):

• The JE virus(JEV) is spread to people through the bite of Culex mosquitoes.
• Wild birds are likely to be the natural hosts of JEV, and mosquitoes are the vectors.
• JE is the second Flavivirus that is vaccine-preventable, Its treatment is covered under India’s Universal Immunisation Programme (UIP).

• As per a  recent paper, European honeybees can be an effective biomonitor for determining the spread of antimicrobial resistance (AMR) in urban neighbourhoods.
• European honeybees, or Apis mellifera, interact with contaminants in soil, dust, air, water and pollen while they forage.
  • Bees are a really good indicator of pollution that may present a risk of harm to humans.

Antimicrobial resistance (AMR): 

• AMR is the ability of bacteria and other microbes to resist the drugs used to inhibit or kill them. 

Biomonitors:

• A biological monitor, or biomonitor, is defined as an organism that provides quantitative information on the quality of the environment around it. 
• They are mostly used for the quantitative determination of contaminants in the environment.
• The use of a biomonitor is described as biological monitoring and is the use of the properties of an organism to obtain information on certain aspects of the biosphere.

• The Delhi High Court in an interim order directed members of the Federation of Hotel and Restaurant Association of India (FHRAI) to replace the term ‘service charge’ with ‘staff contribution’.
  • The service charge is a type of fee collected to pay for services associated with the purchase of a service. 
• The same shall not be more than 10% of the total bill amount, excluding GST. 
• The menu card shall specify in bold that after the payment of staff contribution, no further tip is to be paid to the establishment.

About FHRAI:

• FHRAI is the national organization representing the hospitality industry in India.