Experts dealing with Anthrax in State and other parts of country have expressed concern over non-availability of few of most advanced equipments shortening time period of detection of the bacteria at early stages in Jharkhand. In a ‘Three day Hand on Practical Training on Anthrax Diagnostics’ started in RIMS on Wednesday, experts from other parts of the world also said that despite compatibility at information gathering and laboratory testing level, State government needed to invest in high class detection tools which were working wonders in other parts of the world.
Experts from Centre for Disease Control (CDC) headquartered at Atlanta (USA) and its Indian arm National Centre for Disease Control (NCDC), Indian Council of Agricultural Research - National Institute of Veterinary Epidemiology and Disease Informatics (ICAR-NIVEDI), Manipal University (MCVR), Rajendra Institute of Medical Sciences (RIMS) and couple of other institutes other than laboratory technicians and professionals were present on first day of the training programme.
“We have gathered to discuss Anthrax in humans and animals in India, CDCs support in Anthrax surveillance and diagnostics conducted by it so far, sample collection, packaging and transportation, molecular diagnostics of Anthrax and almost anything and everything about the disease which is completely curable if detected at early stages,” said RIMS Associate Professor (Department of Microbiology) Manoj Kumar on Wednesday.
Notably, the Anthrax bacteria which kept security agencies taking care of top leaders and important persons in many of the countries on toes under havoc of anonymously sent envelopes containing Anthrax carrying letters during early years of this century, was detected for the first time in India only in Jharkhand in October 2014 when seven people died of vomiting blood in Simdega district. “We have tested 200 suspected so far in which 70 out of 120 samples collected have been found Anthrax positive. The bacteria has so far claimed 13 lives, mainly in Simdega where people consumed meat of dead animals, sometimes out of rituals and other times out of tradition and food habit. The disease has so far remained restricted to forest regions of the State,” said Kumar.
Dr Malesa Ivey from CDC (Atlanta) said on the occasion that the bacteria was completely detectable, and those suffering from it could be saved easily if detected early. However, she said that the government needed to provide Real Time PCR (RT-PCR), which could save considerable time during process of detection. The training session is going to discuss host of other things related to the issue on Thursday and Friday.