Public healthIndia to be home to the 7th CDC global disease detection center

Published 12 November 2010

One result of President Obama’s visit to India is the agreement to set up a global disease detection centre in India; the center will be part of the global network of detection facilities supervised by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC); the Indian center — the seventh CDC global facility — will monitor deadly pathogens and viruses, outbreak information, coordinate responses, and support the WHO’s Global Outbreak Alert and Response Network to allow rapid identification, confirmation and response to outbreaks of international importance

Terrorism and U.S. policies in Afghanistan and Pakistan, lobbying for a permanent seat in the UN Security Council for India, and outsourcing seemed to dominate the Indo-U.S. agenda during President Barack Obama’s visit to India, but the two countries on Monday quietly signed another significant Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) that promises to set up a global disease detection centre in India by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) in Atlanta.

The state-of-the-art laboratory — the seventh set up by CDC globally — will monitor deadly pathogens and viruses, outbreak information, coordinate responses, and support the WHO’s Global Outbreak Alert and Response Network to allow rapid identification, confirmation and response to outbreaks of international importance.

Times of India reports that The MoU — signed by Dr. L. S. Chauhan, director of the National Center for Disease Control in Delhi — entails sharing best practices for detection and response to emerging infections, advanced training in field epidemiology, surveillance for deadly diseases, and building laboratory capacity for their diagnosis using CDC’s reference materials.

Similar facilities exist in Thailand, Kenya, Guatemala, China, Egypt, and Kazakhstan. In 2009, India was selected as the seventh country to host such a center where activities are currently underway in influenza, zoonotic investigation and control, and field epidemiology training.

CDC set up its first such facility — under its Global Disease Detection (GDD) program — in 2004 funded by the Congress in the wake of the SARS outbreak. SARS experience demonstrated that a highly pathogenic infectious disease in a remote region can spread around the world in a matter of days or weeks.

A major focus for the India laboratory will be zoonotic diseases. Approximately 75 percent of recently identified emerging infectious diseases affecting humans are diseases of animal origin. Additionally, 80 percent of pathogens with a high potential for bioterrorism are zoonotic.

In 2006, GDD alone across five centers responded to more than 144 outbreaks of avian influenza, hemorrhagic fever, meningitis, cholera, and unexplained sudden deaths. Effective responses to those cases prevented thousands of other infections.

India, meanwhile, is also set to have its very own CDC. Being planned on the lines of the world renowned CDC in Atlanta, which is in the forefront of investigating global outbreak of deadly infectious diseases, the country’s health ministry is all set to convert its existing National Center for Disease Control (NCDC) into an apex body for combating communicable diseases.

The Times of India notes that with new and deadly pathogens springing up, like the H1N1 swine flu virus and mutated vector-borne disease strains, the ministry has finalized a cabinet note, which will be circulated soon between ministries and the prime minister’s office for consultation.

An amount of Rs 382.41 crore has been earmarked for the proposal. A total of 245 additional posts consisting of 210 technical and 35 administrative posts are to be created by March 2013 for the new centre.

The concept plan for the new CDC in India has been developed in consultation with the Indian Council of Medical Research, CDC Atlanta, WHO, and World Bank. An independent appraisal has also been carried out by IIT, Delhi.

Civil works will be required to create new state-of-the-art infrastructure in terms of wet and dry labs, highly advanced bio-safety level 2 and BSL-3 labs, an administrative block, an auditorium, a library, hostel, and residential facilities while retaining the heritage character of the existing NCDC structure.