The aetiology of acute meningoencephalitis in Sri Lankan children and adults is poorly understood. This study was carried out to determine pathogens responsible for meningoencephalitis in Sri Lanka. A hospital-based cross-sectional study was performed using cerebrospinal fluid samples (22 adult and 17 pediatric) collected from August to December 2009 from patients clinically diagnosed with acute meningoencephalitis at two tertiary care hospitals in Sri Lanka. Routine microbiology for bacterial pathogens together with in-house RT-PCR and PCR assays for the detection of dengue viruses, Japanese encephalitis virus, West Nile virus, chikungunya virus, enteroviruses, mumps virus, measles virus, herpes simplex viruses types 1 and 2, and varicella zoster virus were performed. Bacterial pathogens were not isolated from any patient specimens. However, from nine of the paediatric patients aged 1 month to 10 years (mean age 5.2 years) echovirus 9 (E-9; family Picornaviridae, genus Enterovirus,species Enterovirus B ) was detected by RT-PCR. All nine patients presented with fever, six had headache, and seven had vomiting. Neck stiffness indicating meningitis was present in six of the patients. Phylogenetic analysis of partial VP1 and VP4-VP2 genes showed these E-9 strains to be most closely related to E-9 strains detected in CSF from Korea and France in 2005 and 2006. The remaining patients were negative for all other viruses tested. E-9 was the most common cause of acute meningoencephalitis in the tested paediatric population from Sri Lanka in 2009, which likely reflects circulation of this E-9 strain between Europe and Asia over several years.

ObjectivesTo determine aetiology of illness among children and adults presenting during outbreak of severe respiratory illness in Southern Province, Sri Lanka, in 2018.DesignProspective, cross-sectional study.Setting1600-bed, public, tertiary care hospital in Southern Province, Sri Lanka.Participants410 consecutive patients, including 371 children and 39 adults, who were admitted with suspected viral pneumonia (passive surveillance) or who met case definition for acute respiratory illness (active surveillance) in May to June 2018.ResultsWe found that cocirculation of influenza A (22.6% of cases), respiratory syncytial virus (27.8%) and adenovirus (AdV) (30.7%; type B3) was responsible for the outbreak. Mortality was noted in 4.5% of paediatric cases identified during active surveillance. Virus type and viral coinfection were not significantly associated with mortality.ConclusionsThis is the first report of intense cocirculation of multiple respiratory viruses as a cause of an outbreak of severe acute respiratory illness in Sri Lanka, and the first time that AdV has been documented as a cause of a respiratory outbreak in the country. Our results emphasise the need for continued vigilance in surveying for known and emerging respiratory viruses in the tropics.

Sri Lanka is being promoted as a tourist destination and the port of Hambanthota is having visits from Passengers. The port of Hambanthota in Sri Lanka is on the busy main east-west sea route. It has become necessary to determine if a Passenger Cruise Ship can be berthed safely in differing monsoonal wind conditions. Before a ship is manoeuvred into a port in the real sense, simulator trials are necessary to be carried out to see if the ship can be manoeuvred safely in varying conditions with all available resources. Simulator trials have been recognized as a cost-effective way to determine the safe limitations and prevent mishaps. The CINEC simulator research team successfully created the simulator environment of the port of Hambanthota as a part of the research under AHEAD operations of the ministry of high education funded by the world bank. As per the analysis of the results of simulator trials, it has been concluded that the wind speed should be limited to 20 knots for safe berthing mainly due to the berthing tug power used.