The Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) and Zydus Cadila announced the launch of new diagnostic kits, developed by ICMR’s National Institute of Virology (NIV), Pune, to detect neglected infectious diseases in livestock.
‘Make in India’
The kits have been developed to detect infections in the animal population, as they often are the hosts or reservoirs, spreading the infection to humans who come in close contact with them.
A release issued by ICMR stated that this public-private partnership will open newer avenues for many more indigenous diagnostics for public health benefits. These technologies will enable detection of outbreaks of dangerous and life-threatening diseases and also give a boost to the government’s ‘Make in India’ efforts.
Quick results
According to secretary, Department of Health Research, and DG, ICMR, Dr. Soumya Swaminathan: “While tackling the neglected infectious diseases, timely diagnosis and treatment is critical. To reach the ultimate goal of elimination of these neglected diseases, it is important to maintain a constant vigilance through appropriate diagnosis, robust surveillance, monitoring and reporting mechanisms.”
These kits will be manufactured and marketed by Zydus Diagnostics, a division of Cadila Healthcare based in Ahmedabad. The kits provide results within 2.5 to 3 hours and are both highly sensitive and specific. The kits will be available for use in public health laboratories and hospitals across India and other countries.
Dengue detection kit
These diagnostic tests will help public health services in effective detection and surveillance. Another product in the pipeline is a Multiplex real-time PCR kit for the detection dengue and chikungunya, which is useful in detection during early stages of the infection.