In order to work towards prevention of outbreak of viral infections such as Ebola in some of the African countries, there is a need for regular screening of migrant populations reaching India to detect such possibilities. As of today, there are no referral regional centres in place to detect such kind of outbreaks, informs Prof. Abhay Chowdhary, director, Haffkine Institute (HITRT), Mumbai.

A multidisciplinary regional centre for disease control has been planned to be set up at HITRT for Western India as a part of the institute's Vision -2020 programme for detecting infections and disease control.

Prof Chowdhary further informed, "There is an emerging trend of infections from animals like Ebola which will account for about 70 per cent of infections in future. These infections will attack both animals and humans if not diagnosed in a rapid and specific manner. Most of the existing healthcare institutions come out with reports which are clinically oriented and fail to cover the whole spectrum of diagnosis of viral and bacterial infections. There is a need for proper referrals between healthcare institutions and state of art labs in order to achieve desired results," Prof Chowdhary said emphasizing on the need for such centres.

HITRT is associated with National Centre for Disease Control (NCDC), New Delhi on plague, leptospirosis, influenza and rabies. There is a need for referral regional centres across the country as there are restricted number of laboratories conducting research, training and testing.

Talking about the relevance of such initiatives and centres, Prof S Rajarajan, vice chancellor, SRM University, Haryana and expert of infectious disease pinpoints that till date 42 antivirals have been developed and approved by US FDA to treat infections of viral origin which represent only 5 to 8 diseases. There is a need to develop novel antivirals for the same."

He further informed that vaccines are not available for the following viruses like human immunodeficiency virus, Ross river virus, Parvo virus B19, West Nile virus, BK virus, Sindbis virus, Nombre virus, Hanta virus, Junin virus, Semiliki Forest virus, Heartland virus, hepatitis C, Machupo virus, Crimean Congo Haemorrhagic fever virus, Ebstein barr virus, hepatitis D, Sabia virus, PRNP, Lass virus, Chikungunya virus, Rhino viruses, Marburg virus, dengue virus, Ebola Haemorrhagic virus, Middle East Respiratory synctial Coroana virus. Experts say that there is a need for a three-tier approach to support referral centres across the country which can be developed at the central, state and district level to help diagnose the infections before its outbreak.

The situation in affected countries of Africa has been alarming as 163 new cases of the Ebola virus and 61 deaths were reported between 31 July and 1 August, according to World Health Organization (WHO). Now, with 1779 cases, including 961 deaths, the outbreak is out of control.

A man in Vasai, Mumbai, who has recently returned from Nigeria, was quarantined at home after he complained of abdominal pain. He was admitted to KEM Hospital in Mumbai after he returned on July 28 but was asked to stay at his home in Vasai, after his condition improved. Nigeria and some west African nations have reported Ebola virus. The Maharashtra state health department has asked the Union ministry of health to spell out guidelines to counter Ebola and guidelines for screening passengers at airports has been issued so far.