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DHR soon to begin joint research in the area of zoonoses
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Ramesh Shankar, Mumbai
November 28 , 2014
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The Department of Health Research (DHR) will soon begin joint research
in the area of zoonoses, which have been defined as diseases and
infections that naturally transmitted between vertebrate animals and
humans.
According to senior officials in the DHR, the effects
of zoonoses are accentuated among marginalised groups since the poor
tend to have closer interactions with animals and are further removed
from accessible health services. India possesses a favourable
environment for transmission of both known and novel diseases between
animals and human.
Officials also said that a targeted,
multi-disciplinary and multi-sectoral efforts are required to mitigate
the effects of zoonoses on human and animal health. Since zoonotic
diseases encompass animal-human interface, these collaborative projects
will be better equipped to address the multiple aspects of the zoonotic
diseases.
The diseases that have been identified for this
collaborative researches are rabies, rickettsial infections including Q
fever (Coxiella burneti), anthrax, listeriosis and Crimean Congo
hemorrhagic fever.
The priority domains of the collaborative
research on rabiesare Design and implementation of epidemiological
studies; Designing and implementation of integrated rabies control
strategy suitable for Indian scenario; and standardisation of
vaccination schedule for dog.
The priority domain on rickettsial
infections including Q fever (Coxiella burneti) include human, animal
and entomological studies for diagnosis and sero epidemiology of
rickettsial diseases from different regions in India; Establish
determinants responsible for increased populations of Orientia
tsusugamushi infected mites and periodic increases and decreases in
incidence of disease in humans; Elucidation of the vulnerable points in
the zoonotic maintenance cycles of Orientia tsusugamushi and develop an
effective, environmentally acceptable intervention to decrease the
infected tick populations; and Ecological and epidemiological
determinants and their GIS mapping to understand the expanding horizon
of Rickettsial infections.
On anthrax, the research will focus on
analysis of individual host risk factors for anthrax exposure and
infection and risk characterisation; Preferred prevention
strategy/decontamination procedures for population exposed to anthrax
especially pregnant women; Expanded veterinary surveillance and
integration with human health information; and socio-economic burden of
anthrax in tribal population in anthrax endemic areas. Behavioural
studies on tribal population regarding meat eating habits of dead
animals died of unnatural death.
The priority domain on
Listeriosis are developing methodologies for Listeria strains, effective
support for trace-back investigations, and increased monitoring
capacity by facilitating access to reliable, real-time technologies;
Ecological studies of Listeria especially as applied to the
investigation, identification and handling of sporadically appearing
isolates; and analytical system to be identified for listeriosis, where
sub-typing, finger printing, sequencing could result in specific
diagnostic markers to provide immediate, on-site capability for the
identification of outbreaks with no loss of sensitivity or specificity.
The
priority domain on Crimean Congo hemorrhagic fever are human
surveillance of CCHF envisaging early detection of CCHF, case management
and outbreak control; animal srveillance studies in affected states;
entomological surveillance for developing disease outbreak prediction
methods; and studies on molecular epidemiology and evolution of CCHF
virus.
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