India to begin Seasonal Flu Surveillance

[Ronan Kelly]

This is excellent news!

Nationwide study to monitor flu strains on anvil
Kounteya Sinha, TNN | May 21, 2011, 04.11am IST
NEW DELHI: India, for the first time ever, will monitor seasonal influenza.

National Centre for Disease Control (NCDC) will soon launch a countrywide study to see which influenza strains are causing seasonal flu that are usually characterized by running or blocked nose, fever, incessant sneezing and throat ache.

Around 30 hospitals have been identified for collecting influenza strains. Ten laboratories, under the integrated disease surveillance programme (ISDP), will test nasal and throat samples that have been collected from seasonal flu patients.

BJ Medical College (Ahmedabad), JIPMER (Pondicherry), NCDC (Delhi), SGPGI (Lucknow), IPM (Hyderabad), NIMHANS (Bangalore), Shimla Medical College and Hofkins Institute (Mumbai) are among the 10 laboratories that will conduct the test. These laboratories were set up during the avian influenza outbreak in India. However, the swine flu outbreak gave impetus to monitor seasonal influenza.

"Each laboratory will test human samples from three hospitals. Around five samples per hospital will be tested daily. Around 15 samples per hospital will be picked up every week," an official said.

He added, "monitoring influenza strains will help us be better prepared for an influenza pandemic since the strains keep mutating."

NCDC will compile critical data like the number of people is infected by seasonal flu, fatalities and the most prevalent influenza strains.

"The database will help us create India's indigenous seasonal flu vaccine. Indian does not know the real infection burden of seasonal flu or mortality figures," a health ministry official said. Initially, ISDP would fund the exercise, and then it would be the ministry's turn.

Globally, seasonal flu outbreaks claim 60,000 lives annually, but no data are available for India.

...


http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/...-flu-strains-on-anvil/articleshow/8477875.cms

 

[Ronan Kelly]

Re: India to begin Seasonal Flu Surveillance

Some details on the surveillance activities in Andhra Pradesh here; http://www.flutrackers.com/forum/showthread.php?t=169176

and now from Maharashtra;

Swine flu?s back, claims 1st victim
Published: Thursday, Jun 16, 2011, 1:44 IST
By Somita Pal | Place: Mumbai | Agency: DNA
...

Dr Abhay Chowdhary, director, Haffkine Institute, said, ?With the onset of the monsoon, the weather will be cooler and we are expecting a rise in the number of swine flu cases in July. So far, in 2011, we received 48 samples, all of which were negative. Last year, more people fell prey to influenza B.?

According to experts, most people have developed a natural immunity due to extended exposure to swine flu, while some have vaccine-induced immunity. ?Influenza H1N1 is undoubtedly the most predominant virus in the air now and it will continue to be so for some time. But we will have to see how it is this season,? said Dr Chowdhary.

A senior infectious diseases expert said, ?Clinical features of virus types are undergoing tremendous change. Even influenza B can have crippling effects, but it still remains milder than the other influenza types. But people should not ignore the symptoms and see a doctor.?

Meanwhile the Haffkine Institute has begun screening hospitals for Febrile Acute Respiratory Illness (FARI) and Severe Acute Respiratory Illness (SARI). ?FARI and SARI cases peak during the monsoon. We have been collecting samples from the outdoor patients departments of both private and public hospitals. We will opt for genome sequencing to understand the pattern of the viruses and their impact on the city,? said Dr Chowdhary.

http://www.dnaindia.com/mumbai/report_swine-flus-back-claims-1st-victim_1555498

 

[Ronan Kelly]

Re: India to begin Seasonal Flu Surveillance

Six New Virology Laboratories
Six more laboratories have been approved for Chandigarh, Ranchi, Patna, Vishakhapatnam, Chennai and Jabalpur. The Department of Health Research has also prepared a programme for establishment of a virology network including a virology laboratory in each State. There are two apex laboratories viz. National Centre for Disease Control (NCDC) at New Delhi and National Institute of Virology under Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) at Pune which are handling the outbreaks/epidemics. In view of the limited capacity for diagnosis of viral infections, ICMR has taken new initiatives to strengthen virology laboratories in various parts of the country in phased manner. Under this programme, virology laboratories have been established at Port Blair, Bhubaneswar, Lucknow, Manipal, Thiruvananthapuram, Jaipur, Raipur and Allapuzha (in Kerala).

This information was laid in Lok Sabha today by Minister of State for Health and Family Welfare Shri Sudip Bandyopadhyay.

SBS/ls
(Release ID :78098)

http://pib.nic.in/newsite/erelease.aspx?relid=78098

 

[Ronan Kelly]

Re: India to begin Seasonal Flu Surveillance

?Influenza surveillance matter of debate?
Anuradha Mascarenhas : Pune, Tue Mar 20 2012, 01:29 hrs


Influenza has never been perceived as an illness. Now, in their first attempt to assess the influenza disease burden, researchers of National Institute of Virology (NIV) along with Vadu rural health programme of the KEM hospital research centre and Centre for Disease Control and Prevention, Atlanta, USA have conducted a study on 1.20 lakh people across 22 villages in Vadu, which is an hour?s drive from Pune.

There has been a significant disease burden of influenza among hospitalized patients, the preliminary findings of their ongoing study said. Presenting their findings at a recently concluded conference on emerging infectious diseases at Atlanta, USA, Dr AC Mishra, Director of NIV and Dr MS Chadda, Deputy Director of NIV said that due to the wide clinical spectrum of influenza, giving a syndromic case definition for influenza surveillance was still a matter of considerable debate. The influenza can be present in various forms depending on the patient?s age and virus sub-type.
...
http://www.indianexpress.com/news/influenza-surveillance-matter-of-debate/925835/0

 

[Ronan Kelly]

Comment - 4 years after the first post of this thread. - Ro

High swine flu toll worries health experts
The Health Ministry is now in the process of putting in an advanced system for surveillance of seasonal influenza. PTI

Aditi Tandon
Tribune News Service
New Delhi, March 16
...
The Ministry of Health is now in the process of putting in an advanced system for surveillance of seasonal influenza with the National Centre for Disease Control (NCDC) already ready with the project. The NCDC, India?s equivalent of US? Centre for Diseases Control, is the apex body responsible for monitoring and responding to outbreaks.
The NCDC will lead the seasonal influenza surveillance project to gather evidence on public health burden of the disease and its trends.
?The evidence can then guide vaccination policy on the issue,? said a ministry expert. As of today, India has no vaccine policy on swine flu with the government recommending it only for high-risk health workers against the WHO?s suggestion to vaccinate all high-risk groups. The ministry admits in its swine flu advisory that it doesn?t recommend vaccine for all high-risk groups because it has no evidence to suggest a vaccine would help those categories.
...
http://www.tribuneindia.com/news/nation/high-swine-flu-toll-worries-health-experts/54675.html