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State lacks upgraded path labs
Sulagna Sengupta KOLKATA Nov 25: The health departments plans to upgrade the pathological laboratories of the state has been put on hold, as the department is yet lacking in adequate infrastructure.
These laboratories would be upgraded such that they would have the required set-up for conducting tests for viruses such as Arbo and Nipah ~ the ones to be blamed for the outbreak of unknown fever in the city and its adjoining districts.
Although there are pathological laboratories for testing various types of viruses that are responsible for outbreak of vector-borne diseases including harpies, these labs do have the adequate infrastructure for testing Arbo and Nipah viruses.
As a result, blood samples, suspected to have these parasites, are usually sent to the Pune Institute of Virology for confirmation.
With the increase in the number of people suffering from unknown fever, experts, however, stressed on the need to upgrade the pathological laboratories so that these tests could be conducted easily and reports are obtained quickly.
A senior doctor on condition of anonymity said that we call a fever "unknown" when it does not test positive for dengue, malaria or chikungunya.”
Dr Amitava Nandy former director of School of Tropical Medicine said, at times it becomes impossible for us to identify such viruses due to lack of infrastructure. We have repeatedly urged the state health department to provide funds to upgrade the condition of the institution so that we could carry out tests for such viruses.
Even private healthcare establishments do not have laboratories to test such rare parasites. Authorities of private healthcare establishments said they have tied up with various pharmaceutical companies who send blood samples abroad to conduct tests to ascertain whether they contain those viruses.
City-based general physician, Dr Tarun Mondal, who is associated with a private nursing home said: “If a blood sample is suspected to contain any of these two viruses, the samples are sent to Pune Institute of Virology for test or to private companies who send such samples abroad where they have the requisite infrastructure to conduct tests for such viruses.”
Sulagna Sengupta KOLKATA Nov 25: The health departments plans to upgrade the pathological laboratories of the state has been put on hold, as the department is yet lacking in adequate infrastructure.
These laboratories would be upgraded such that they would have the required set-up for conducting tests for viruses such as Arbo and Nipah ~ the ones to be blamed for the outbreak of unknown fever in the city and its adjoining districts.
Although there are pathological laboratories for testing various types of viruses that are responsible for outbreak of vector-borne diseases including harpies, these labs do have the adequate infrastructure for testing Arbo and Nipah viruses.
As a result, blood samples, suspected to have these parasites, are usually sent to the Pune Institute of Virology for confirmation.
With the increase in the number of people suffering from unknown fever, experts, however, stressed on the need to upgrade the pathological laboratories so that these tests could be conducted easily and reports are obtained quickly.
A senior doctor on condition of anonymity said that we call a fever "unknown" when it does not test positive for dengue, malaria or chikungunya.”
Dr Amitava Nandy former director of School of Tropical Medicine said, at times it becomes impossible for us to identify such viruses due to lack of infrastructure. We have repeatedly urged the state health department to provide funds to upgrade the condition of the institution so that we could carry out tests for such viruses.
Even private healthcare establishments do not have laboratories to test such rare parasites. Authorities of private healthcare establishments said they have tied up with various pharmaceutical companies who send blood samples abroad to conduct tests to ascertain whether they contain those viruses.
City-based general physician, Dr Tarun Mondal, who is associated with a private nursing home said: “If a blood sample is suspected to contain any of these two viruses, the samples are sent to Pune Institute of Virology for test or to private companies who send such samples abroad where they have the requisite infrastructure to conduct tests for such viruses.”
