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Zoonosis Division |
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Zoonosis Division carries out work on zoonotic diseases of public health importance viz. Plague, Rabies, Kala-azar, Arboviral infections, Toxoplasmosis, Brucellosis, Leptospirosis, Rickettsiosis, Hydatidosis, Neurocysticercosis and Anthrax.
The objectives of the division is to provide referral diagnostic services technical support to State Governments for outbreak investigations, operational research and trained manpower development in the field of zoonotic diseases and their control.The division also participates in teaching and training activities organised by the Institute from time to time in connection of various National Health programmes.
The Division has National Reference Laboratories for Plague, Kala-azar and Arboviral infections. It has also been recognized by the World Health Organisation as WHO collaborative Centre for Rabies.
The Division conducts expert group meeting for formulation of guidelines for prevention and control of zoonotic diseases of public health importance and consensus on strategies on various aspects.
A. Rabies Laboratory
The Laboratory is functioning as WHO Collaborative Centre for Rabies epidemiology for SEA Region since 1985.
1. It provides diagnostic services to the public and veterinary hospitals for diagnosis of rabies in animals
2. The laboratory provides anti-mortem diagnosis of rabies in suspect hydrophobia cases.
3. It carries out isolation and characterisation of virus from samples of suspected rabid animals.
4. The division is involved in development and standardisation of newer diganostic techniques
5. Seroconversion studies are being carried out after pre and post-exposure treatment both in human and animals.
6. It provides advise to the persons bitten by animals
7. The laboratory runs a quality assurance scheme for routine diagnostic procedures for rabies in collaboration with different institution laboratories.
8. The laboratory is constantly engaged in finding out the alternative routes/dosages for economical anti rabies treatment
9. The laboratory carries out outbreak investigations in cases of bite to multiple victims by a single rabid animal
It has been designated as Nodal agency for prevention of rabies in humans.
The division proposes to carry out following activities on World Rabies Day on 8th September, 2007
(i) Message by Health & FW Minister on rabies control and prevention in National news dailies
(ii)
Lecture on animal bite management at NICD,
(iii) IEC activities in schools
B. Arboviruses Laboratory
1.
The laboratory provides serological diagnosis of arboviral
infections like JE, Dengue, Chikungunya and
2. It provides laboratory support for investigation of outbreaks of JE, Dengue and Chikungunya in the country.
3. For isolation of the Dengue, JE, Chikungunya virus the laboratory has culture facilities of C6/36 cell lines and vero cell lines.
4. It undertakes standardization of advanced laboratory techniques for use in serological diagnosis.
5. It provides evaluation of various serological kits for diagnosis of JE and Dengue.
C.
Leishmania
Laboratory
1.
It provides diagnostic services to all Hospitals and
Dispensaries in
2. It is engaged in isolation, cryopreservation and maintenance of Leishmania strains.
3. The laboratory is self sufficient in preparation and standadisation of antigen and reagents for serological procedures like ELISA, DOT-ELISA, IFA and CIEP.
4.
It supplies antigen on demand to other laboratories in
5. L.donovani strainsare being supplied to other laboratories on demand.
6. It provides laboratory support for investigation of various outbreaks in the country.
7. Provides consultation services for the treatment of kala-azar patients.
8. It is constantly engaged in development of rapid field tests in the diagnosis of kala azar
D.
Toxoplasma
Laboratory
1.
It provides diagnostic services to all Hospitals and
dispensaries in
2. It is maintaining Rh strain of Toxoplasman gondii in Swiss albino mice. The strain is being supplied to institutions on demand.
3. The laboratory prepares its own antigen and reagents for the serological procedures.
4. It provides consultation services for the treatment of Toxoplasmosis and follow-up of the patients.
E.
Central Plague
Laboratory
It is BSL-2 level laboratory. It has state of the art diagnostic facilities meeting WHO criteria for confirmation of plague. The laboratory is well equipped for carrying out work on all aspects of plague.
1. The laboratory co-ordinates the activities of plague control units of the states.
2. It maintains surveillance of plague in country in collaboration with the State Plague Control units.
3. It is involved in the bacteriological, serological and entomological studies for surveillance of plague.
4. To carry out investigation of any suspected outbreak of plague in the country.
5. To identify all the suspected Y.pestis like organisms isolated from the field specimens.
6. It is maintaining the isolates of Y.pestis.
7. The laboratory is involved in development of newer serological techniques like ELISA, IgM capture ELISA
8. It runs a programme for maintenance of quality assurance between the laboratories.
9. To keep informed the Government of India and State Governments regarding plague Surveillance and Control activities in the country.
10. It organises and conducts periodic meetings of the Interstate co-ordination committee on plague.
11. The laboratory collaborates with WHO Collaborative Centre for exchange of information and procurement of reagents/biological material
12. It participates in the External Quality Assurance Programme run by NHLS, AFRO region.
F.
Leptospira
Laboratory
1. The laboratory provides diagnostic services to all Hospitals of Delhi.
2. It provides laboratory support for outbreak investigations.
3. It is undertaking multicentric study on sero-surveillance of Leptospirosis.
G.
Hydatid and Rickettsia
Laboratory
1.
The laboratory deals with Rickettsia and Hydatid infections
and provides diagnostic services to all Hospitals in
2. It carries out serological diagnosis for hydatid disease and rickettsial infections.
3. It provides laboratory support for outbreak infection of ricettsial diseases like scrub typhus and tick typhus in various parts of the country.
H.
Brucella Laboratory
1.
It provides diagnostic services to all Hospitals in
2. It undertakes sero-surveillance studies on a contained population.
I.
Cysticercosis
Laboratory
1. The laboratory undertakes studies to find out the prevalence of cysticercosis in patients with epilepsy. It is engaged in evaluation of serological tests like ELISA in the diagnosis of neurocysticercosis.
J.
Anthrax
1. Laboratory is maintaining the isolates of anthrax bacillus.
2. It provides laboratory support for investigation of suspected outbreaks of anthrax in various parts of the country.
3. It provides laboratory support for investigation of environmental samples and various mails for confirmation of anthrax bacilli.
K.
Tissue Culture Laboratory
Maintaining stock of cell lines – C6/36, Neuroblastoma 2A, Vero cell lines
Maintaining virus isolates of Dengue, JE, Chikungunya and Rabies.
Engaged in isolation and identification of viruses viz. Rabies, Dengue, JE & Chik.
Outbreak investigation
JE/AES
2005 – 4 outbreaks of JE/AES were investigated in State
of
2006 – 4 outbreaks of JE/AES were investigated in UP and Uttarakhand
Anthrax
2005 & 2007 – One each in state of Orissa.
Chikungunya
2006 – 4 outbreaks in state of Andhra Pradesh,
Karnataka,
2007 – 1 outbreak in State of
Rickettsial infections/scrub
typhus
2005 – 2 outbreaks in
2006 – 3 outbreaks in
2007 – 1 outbreak in Himachal Pradesh
Leptospirosis
2005 – 3 outbreaks in Mumbai,
2006 – 2 outbreaks in
2007 – 1 outbreak in
L. Plague Surveillance Unit,
The activities
of the unit are being co-ordinated and supervised by the Central Plague
Laboratory at Zoonosis Division, NICD, Headquarters,
1. It carries out studies on seasonal prevalence of wild rodents.
2. It performs bacteriological & serological examination of wild rodents for evidence of plague infection.
3. It undertakes investigation of rat falls to exclude plague etiology.
4. It carries out entomological studies including susceptibility studies of fleas to insecticides.
5. It co-ordinates the plague surveillance and control activities of the state plague control units.
Development of trained manpower
The division conducts national and international training courses from time to time on various zoonotic diseases. The following training courses are being organised regularly.
1. Hands on training in laboratory techniques in rabies.
2. Training course for surveillance and control of plague and leptospirosis.
3. Hands on training course in diagnostic technique for vairous zoonotic diseases.
4. Training course for laboratory diagnosis of arboviral infections.
5.
Training for virologists and technicians from proposed JE
network laboratories for standardizing laboratory procedures for JE
confirmation at Zoonosis Division, NICD,
Teaching
Ø
PhD
students
Ø
MSc.
Students
Ø
Summer
training
Operational
Research
The Division is carrying out research projects on
various zoonotic diseases.
Some of the important zoonotic research projects
are:
1.
APW for comparative evaluation of serological diagnostic kits for
Dengue, JE, scrub typhus and
leptospirosis.
2.
Pilot projects in 11th Five Year Plan – Under New
Initiatives:
Ø
Control of
Leptospirosis in
Ø
Prevention
and Control of Human Rabies
3.
Multicentric study on rabies
epidemiology
4.
Study on safety and efficacy of intradermal administration of PCEC
anti-rabies vaccine by Thai Red Cross Schedule in healthy
volunteers.
5.
Comparative evaluation of rK39 ELISA and IFA for sero-diagnosis of
Kala-azar.
Publications
The
division has developed manuals and booklets on various diseases like JE,
Rabies, Kala azar, Plague, Leptospirosis. These are being updated
regularly recently the following manuals have been developed.
1. Rabies – General aspects and Laboratory diagnostic techniques
2. Manual on "Zoonotic diseases of public health importance".
3. Guidelines for prevention and control of Anthrax, Leptospirosis, Dengue and JE.
4.
Book on Control of Plague in
5. National guidelines for rabies prophylaxis and intradermal admission of cell culture rabies vaccines
Research
papers
1.
Prompt laboratory diagnosis and timely containment of a
plague outbreak in
2. Knowledge, Attitude and Practices about animal bites and rabies in general community. J.Com.Dis. 38 (4), Dec (2006)
3.
Epidemiology of Animal bites and rabies in
4. Case Report – Kala azar (Visceral Leishmaniasis) in Haryana : submitted for publication, J.Com.Dis.
5.
an outbreak of Chikungunya viral disease in Malegaon
Municipal Area of Nasik district Maharashtra (
6. Chikungunya Fever – Reemerging viral infection; under publication Indian Journal of Medical Microbiology
7. Development and Evaluation of an in-vitro isolation of street rabies virus in mouse neuroblastoma cells as compared to conventional use for diagnosis of rabies – under publication; Indian Journal of Medical Microbiology.
Central Animal Housing
Facility
The Animal Facility of Institute of Communicable Diseases is spread over the total area of 1000 sq. m. and consists of breeding facility (800 sq.m.) and an experimental facility (200 sq.m.)
The facility has been registered with the
committee for the purpose of control and supervision of experiments on
animals (CPCSEA), Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment,
a. Breeding facility
The mice and rats are raised in a three tier colonies namely foundation stock, pedigreed expansion stock and production stock. In addition to these, genetically undefined stocks of rabbits, guinea, pigs, sheep, geese and pigeons are also bred.
b. Experimental facility
This facility is seperate from the breeding area so as to protect the animals from any possible infections. It is attached with the main research block and is directly accessible to the scientific staff of the institute.
c. Service area
It includes dirty and clean washing sections, storage area for feed, bedding, cages and the waste disposal unit.
Commercial pellet diet is used which is supplemented by bengal grams as well as carrots and leafy vegetables specially for guinea pigs and rabbits.
The chlorinated water supplied by MCD for human consumption is given to all the laboratory animals which protects them from the enteric diseases.
d. Health quality control
Health of the healthy experimental animals is taken care with the help of the veterinarian. The sick animals are seperated and treated.
e. Disposal of dead animals
The dead animals are incinerated.
f. Staff strength
i. Scientific staff - Incharge - Staff Scientist (Dy. Director)
ii. Technical staff
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Laboratory Assistant |
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Insect Collector |
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Safaiwala |
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