BHUBANESWAR: As India is in for a long war with coronavirus, necessitating fast-paced upscaling of infrastructure and indigenous development of testing kits and equipment, researchers at AIPH University here are racing to develop antibody tests to boost mass screening and surveillance measures.
The University’s One Health Centre for Surveillance and Disease Dynamics is set to start working on developing serological assays for SARS Cov-2 antibodies this month.
It is readying special lab infrastructure with facilities and a team of researchers under Centre Director Prof Brahmadev Patnaik, eminent virologist who has worked with other coronavirus types and been the founding director of ICAR International Centre for Foot and Mouth Disease.
The University has set a target of developing the antibody test within six months. After the antibody test is ready, local bio-tech companies will be roped in for mass production of kits.
“Serological tests for identifying protective immunity coupled with infectiousness of people and those around them need to be strictly monitored in the near term as SARS Cov-2 is here to stay. How this virus circulates in humans, families, communities and demographies needs to be determined.
Lacking this approach will make it difficult to handle the rise in healthcare needs and management of second or third waves of infections that will certainly follow as the country opens up again”, Prof Pattnaik stressed.
He said the governments cannot wait for post-pandemic period to strategise for the future. According to scientists and public health experts, it is quite likely that SARS Cov-2 will be an endemic disease and circulate throughout the year.
“We have to be prepared to address our problems locally. AIPH is discussing with funding agencies including Odisha Government to carry forward this critical mission”, he stated. The AIPH is also expanding its activities to community surveillance and epidemiological studies. It plans to deploy mobile BSL-2 laboratories to complement the activities.
The vans can go to any district or village for sample collection and processing. This will address issues at the point of need with quick turnaround time and results, thereby reducing mortality, morbidity and healthcare expenses.
“We plan to conduct largescale surveillance and longitudinal follow-ups in communities to help manage the current crisis and assemble scientific information to deal with SARS Cov-2 and other co-infections that are not expected to go away anytime soon.
"The university is the only public health institution in the country with field-sites, sophisticated laboratories and global clinical tie-ups to deliver what is needed”, AIPH President and Director of International Microbiome Research of Georgetown University Medical Centre, US, Prof Pinaki Panigrahi said.