Leptospirosis Diagnostics Laboratory inaugurated by Health Minister
The Hindu
Leptospirosis, an acute bacterial infection that could lead to multiple organ involvement, has been increasing in India for the past three decades.
To strengthen diagnostic facilities for leptospirosis, a Regional Leptospirosis Diagnostics Laboratory (RLDL) has been established at the State Public Health Laboratory of the Directorate of Public Health (DPH) and Preventive Medicine in Chennai.
Health Minister Ma. Subramanian inaugurated the RLDL, which is one among the 10 laboratories in the country, on Friday. According to a press release, outbreaks of leptospirosis, an acute bacterial infection that could lead to multiple organ involvement and fatal complications due to renal and pulmonary involvement, has been increasing in India for the past three decades.
The positivity rate for the disease is notable in Southern India at 25.6%. Despite this, the disease remained highly under-reported in India, due to its endemic nature, lack of diagnostic capacity, lack of awareness among doctors and shortage of literature and varied clinical manifestations of the disease in India.
As a part of strengthening the diagnostic laboratory, the Government of India has identified 10 laboratories for the diagnosis of leptospirosis. The National Centre for Disease Control (NCDC) approved the establishment of RLDL under the Programme for Prevention and Control of Leptospirosis during 2021-22. A memorandum of understanding was signed between the DPH and Director of NCDC, and a sum of ₹9 lakh was released by NCDC.
Laboratory confirmation of leptospirosis will be one of the key activities of the facility. It will maintain cultures of the locally prevalent pathogenic serovars to perform the confirmatory Microscopic Agglutination Test, receive samples from the District Public Health Laboratories (DPHL) network from all districts of the State and mapping of locally prevalent pathogens and molecular diagnostic capacity by RT-PCR to confirm leptospirosis.
Training and strengthening diagnosis capacity at the DPHL level and mapping of locally prevalent serovars in the State are among the other activities of RLDL.