Tackling bio-terrorism: Specialised lab soon

By T. Lalith Singh

HYDERABAD, NOV. 27. Andhra Pradesh is all set to establish a specialised facility aimed at countering various forms of bio- terrorism with a full-fledged Bio-Safety Laboratory (BSL-2) to be set up soon in the Institute of Preventive Medicine (IPM) at a cost of Rs. 35 lakhs.

This decision follows the recommendations of a core committee constituted by the State Government in the wake of anthrax mail scare in the city. The Postal Department has received 17 ``suspicious'' envelopes to be sent to different individuals, including one addressed to the Chief Minister, Mr. N. Chandrababu Naidu.

All these envelopes have been sent for analysis to the New Delhi- based National Institute of Communicable Diseases (NICD) and no trace of anthrax has been found. The core committee, headed by Dr. K. Anji Reddy, Director-General of Medical and Health Services, has felt the need for a comprehensive plan to tackle all kinds of bio-terrorism, apart from anthrax.

The committee's preliminary draft notes that such a plan will help in not being ``caught unprepared by each specific pathogen and threats other than anthrax, which can be unleashed as part of biological warfare''.

In terms of potential hazard, a list of crucial pathogens compiled by the committee included Brucella sp., M tuberculosis, S typhi, Hepatitis B, Rabies, Yellow Fever, Lassa, Ebola and Variola. ``In fact, anthrax can be considered less dangerous when compared to some other pathogens. We are working on them also,'' says Dr. Anji Reddy.

On anthrax, the draft notes that very few laboratories in the country are equipped to handle the bacterium - B Anthracis, considered highly infectious and used in biological warfare. The committee stresses the need for a laboratory, which is equipped with upgraded facilities to meet the prescribed contaminant measures.

A team of scientific officers from IPM and the Veterinary Biological Research Institute (VBRI) has already visited NICD, New Delhi, and studied the facilities there. The Centre for Cellular and Molecular Biology (CCMB) has also agreed to partner the effort and help with its expertise in DNA.

The financial abstract for the establishment of the laboratory at IPM suggests spending Rs. 14.60 lakhs on facilities for isolation and identification of suspected microbiological agent and Rs. 18.30 lakhs towards PCR facility for confirmation of B anthracis or any other suspected agents.

The Government has already released necessary funds and the process is on to procure indigenous equipment for the laboratory. Anthrax being zoonotic in nature (disease of animals that is transmitted to humans), the core committee has also taken stock of veterinary aspects of anthrax in the State.

It has noted that with a susceptible animal population of about 20 lakhs, a total of 11 districts in the State have been affected, while Cuddapah, Chittoor and Nellore are said to account for majority of anthrax cases.

The VBRI Joint Director, Dr. M. Ramakrishna Rao, has said that big animals have been affected in at least 50 per cent of mandals in Chittoor, while smaller animals such as sheep have been found to be anthrax affected in pockets of Cuddapah, Anantapur, Nellore and Prakasam districts.

The Animal Husbandry Department, which monitors the incidence of anthrax in animals, has been striving to check the menace using Stern vaccine manufactured by the VBRI and supplied at a nominal cost of Rs. 2 per dose. The institute has a stock of five lakh doses and it has been passing to animals in the endemic zones which are at a higher risk.

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