One Health Centre coming up at Nagpur to help animal origin diseases like corona

PUNE: As the threat of deadly diseases transmitted from animals to humans nipah, ebola and now corona increases rapidly, Centre for One Health being set up by ICMR's (Indian Council Medical Research) National Institute of Virology and Maharashtra Animal and Fisheries Science University (Mafsu), Nagpur will help the country for better preparedness to contain such diseases.
Scientists say that there are about 830 diseases that can originate in animals and transmit to humans. The ICMR has given mandate to NIV and MAFSU to set up the One Health Centre, for which four acres of land has already been allocated. The Centre will study the different disease causing pathogens in domestic as well as wild animals for better preparedness to contain diseases that humans may get in future. "Veterinarians, environmental scientists, medical scientists will study the zoonotic pathogens, which can be easily transmitted between humans and animals," said Dr Sandip Chaudhari, head, Veterinary Public Health Department, MAFSU.

Explaining the ideas of One Health Centre, Dr Chaudhari said that so far, study of human health and animal health was done separately. "One Health approach however recognises that health of animals is closely linked with health of human beings," he said.

The research to be carried out at the One Health Centre will help scientists develop a vaccine in lesser time, when a new disease gets transmitted from animals to humans.

The holistic research of human and animal health is not only important for dealing with new unknown diseases but also for eradicating existing dangerous diseases like tuberculosis. "It is our target to eradicated tuberculosis (TB) by 2030. However, as TB is known to present in domestic animals like cattle, buffalows, goats and sheep as well as wild animals, we can achieve the eradication target only with a holistic approach," said Chaudhari.

Infection of a disease like Kyasanur Forest Disease, known to be restricted to the forested areas near Mysore and transmitted through tic, was reported from Kolkata and Gujarat in recent past indicating that the potential of these diseases to spread. The One Health Centre will also have a Bio Safety Lab (BSL)-4 lab, which is the most state of the art laboratory to handle dangerous pathogens.

Meanwhile, scientist from NIV have clarified that Corona virus cannot be transmitted through chicken and eggs and hence it is safe to eat them. The poultry industry has reported drop in sales due to rumours on social media claiming that eating meat can cause corona virus infection.