Manipal University, NIMHANS Among 16 Labs to Test for Swine Flu in India

Divvy Kant Upadhyay, Manipal
Daijiworld Media Network - Udupi

Udupi, Jul 3: On Wednesday, Union Minister for Health and Family Welfare Ghulam Nabi Azad announced the establishment of 16 more labs across the country for testing blood samples for Influenza H1N1 Virus (previously known as Swine Flu).

In Karnataka, Manipal University at Manipal and NIMHANS at Bangalore have been identified as the regional referral centres. JIPMER at Pondicherry and Institute of Pathology and Microbiology at Hyderabad make up the other two centres in South India for which the National Institute of Communicable Diseases (NICD) at New Delhi will serve as the Nodal Agency. While NICD has selected 9 centres, the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) has identified the remaining centres of the 16 announced on Wednesday. National Institute of Virology at Pune will serve as the nodal agency for those centres selected by ICMR which include CMC Vellore and King’s Institute at Chennai for Southern India.

Manipal University H1N1 Influenza-A Virus Testing facility - The virologists in the Lab preparing for the tests to be done. Kasturba Medical College at the Manipal University will be the regional referral centre for Kerela and Coastal Karnataka.

The government hopes to save time on diagnostic testing and sharing the sample load among the 16 centres spread across the country. Dr Arun Kumar, incharge of the Lab at Manipal University said that though the monsoons could provide favorable conditions for the virus to spread, currently the Government is following a good containment policy. “Numbers may rise but to prevent that we are following a good testing and containment plan right now” said Dr Arun. The Lab at Manipal received the testing reagents on Wednesday and set up the Lab ready to receive samples by Thursday morning.

Last year the NICD had identified 9 centres to establish Avian Influenza detection centres. The lab equipment and infrastructure sanctioned for the Avian Influenza testing centres has now come handy to detect the H1N1-Influenza A virus. To keep a quality check on the new testing facilities, the NICD at Delhi will be concurrently diagnosing the first 50 samples sent to the new labs. The Manipal centre is expecting to cover Coastal Karnataka and the entire state of Kerala under its geographical reach as a regional referral centre.

What Test Will be Done?

The new labs would do a PCR test on the nasal and throat swabs taken from people suspected to be carrying the infection. The PCR is a very good test as it has a strong sensitivity and a very low false positivity rate. Each sample would undergo three PCR tests to detect three genes specifically found in the RNA of the H1N1 Influenza-A Virus. A test is declared positive only if it has all the three genes being looked for. All cases are reported to the Government and only samples sent through the public health system will be tested at these Labs. Reports too will be sent only to the Nodal zones at Delhi and Pune from where they inform the MOHFW which then officially declares the result and keeps a track on the cases in the country. 

Manipal is Regional Referral Centre for Swine Flu Testing

The Kasturba Medical College at the Manipal where the Lab is set up would be the referral centre for the whole of Kerala and Coastal and Southern Karnataka. NIMHANS at Bangalore is the only other lab in Karnataka among the 16 labs across India which began testing for Swine Flu on Wednesday. Until now only the National Institute of Communicable Diseases (NICD) at New Delhi and the National Institute of Virology(NIV) at Pune were doing these diagnostics tests.

Nodal Officer at the Manipal Lab, Virologist Dr Arun Kumar said number of detected cases could rise as the monsoons will create the moisture and low temperatures favorable for the virus to thrive.

Microbiologists Dr PG Shivanand and Dr Arun Kumar at the Manipal University’s H1N1 Influenza Testing facility at Manipal.

Dr Kumar now expects samples from Mangalore and Calicut International airports and regional isolation centres might be sent to Manipal. The lab at Manipal has the capacity to test for 10 samples at one go – a process that takes upto 6 hours.

KMC Manipal Dean Dr Sripathi Rao informed that last year the NICD at New Delhi identified Manipal as a centre for setting up a lab to detect Avian Influenza (previously known as Bird Flu). Dr Sripathi Rao who led the delegation that signed an MoU with the NICD said that “the present focus of the Government was to detect and prevent the H1N1 Influenza virus from spreading, thus it has justifiably added new lab centres across India”

Dr Arun Kumar informed that “only samples sent by the Public health machinery” set up by the government would be tested at the Lab. The first 50 samples tested by the Manipal Centre will also be tested by the NICD at Delhi to collaborate results and keep a check on testing quality.

Senior Microbiologist, Dr PG Shivananda will be overseeing the functioning of the Lab along with Dr Arun Kumar. Real Time PCR would be the main test done on the samples (nasal and throat swabs of suspected cases) which would look for three genes specifically found in the RNA of the H1N1 virus. A test would become positive only when all three genes are detected.

PTI Report:
  
New Delhi: With cases of swine flu on the rise in the country, Health Minister Ghulam Nabi Azad today said the number of testing laboratories has been increased from two to 18 and hoped that India will be able to develop the vaccine ahead of other nations.

"We can now get the testing facility in 18 laboratories instead of two," Azad said in response to a calling attention motion on the matter in Rajya Sabha.

He said the country will be able to make the flu vaccine earlier than other countries as the scientists were already on the job and the drug authorities are getting the nod from the World Health Organisation (WHO).

The minister said that the disease is practically "non-existent" in the country as compared to some other countries which have a greater geographical expansion and lesser population than India.

"There have been 109 cases so far of which 70 (patients) have already gone back (from the hospital). Fortunately, no deaths have taken place in India," he said.

Azad said of the 109 cases, there was "imported virus" in 100. Among these patients, 70 per cent came from US alone.

On the preparedness of the government, he said 45,000 people are screened daily at the international airports and in 48 days, 26 lakh people have been screened.