Gorakhpur vulnerable to Nipah, feel PGI doctors

LUCKNOW: The districts of Gorakhpur and Maharajganj, experts suspect, are highly susceptible to the presence of deadly Nipah virus that has taken nine lives in Kerala.
To ascertain the same, microbiology department of Sanjay Gandhi Post Graduate Institute of Medical Sciences (SGPGIMS) had been roped in by US-AID’s Eco Health Alliance for a collaborative project for six viruses, including Nipah. This was over a year-and-a-half ago.

While the department has been pushing for a go-ahead ever since January 2017, the project is yet to take off.Head of microbiology department, Prof TN Dhole said that it will be the first collaborative study to be taken up on Nipah in the country. “It will help in identifying biological, behavioural and ecological factors influencing viral diseases, pocket areas of risk and enable in making a project plan for the road ahead,” he said. He added, “We had decided to begin with Gorakhpur and Maharajganj districts. Due to a high interaction between animals and humans, dense forest, unsanitary conditions and being epidemic zones of encephalitis, they are high risk locations for Nipah and other viruses.”
Prof Dhole alleged that SGPGIMS administration is yet to give the approval, even when the Rs10 crore project is to be funded by US-AID. He said, “The ethical committee cleared the project in January 2017, but it is stuck with the legal committee. No reasons have been conveyed to us either.”
The study was to be conducted by taking 400 samples each of bats, macaques, rodents, cattle, pigs and humans, both in the community and those in the hospitals, for studying Nipah, Ebola, SARS (Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome), dengue, influenza and measles