Indian Veterinary Research Institute develops 2 diagnostic kits
18 Oct 2019
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Indian Veterinary Research Institute (IVRI), a unit of the Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR) has developed two diagnostic kits under the ‘Make in India’ initiative that can be used for the control of Swine Flu and detection of Antigen.
The two diagnostic kits, namely the Bluetongue sandwich ELISA (sELISA) and the Japanese Encephalitis lgM ELISA kits, released on Wednesday, not only uses indigenous technology that make the kits cost ten times lesser than the imported ones and thereby help save foreign exchange but also has the potential to earn foreign exchange. .
The two diagnostic kits were released at a function at ICAR headquarters Krishi Bhawan on Wednesday.
Addressing the gathering, secretary DARE and DG, ICAR Dr Trilochan Mohapatra said the Japanese Encephalitis (JE) ELISA Kit (IgM) can be of great help in the treatment of Swine Flu. JE, he pointed out, is a re-emerging viral zoonotic disease leading to death of children every year in the country. The kit developed by the ICAR-Indian Veterinary Research Institute is really helpful for assessing the active infection of JE virus in the swine population which predicts the outbreak of JE in the humans. As compared to the commercial kit available in the market at a price of Rs52,000; the ICAR-IVRI developed is available for the farmers at a minimal price of Rs5,000. The director general mentioned that each kit is meant for testing around 45 samples.
The other kit Bluetongue: Sandwich ELISA for detection of Antigen’ can be used for the detection of Bluetongue (BT) virus, an insect-transmitted viral disease of domestic and wild ruminants that includes the camelid species. The disease is widespread among the sheep, goats, cattle, buffaloes and camels in the country. With the help of the kit, the Bluetongue virus can be controlled with the vaccination of susceptible animals, vector control and quarantine of infected animals with the good management practices. Apart from the vaccination, the early diagnosis and isolation of the infected animals are one of the commonly suggested preventive methods for controlling the spreading of the disease.
Chaturvedi said these two kits will definitely be beneficial for not only the farming community, but the society as a whole.
