With the reorganization of the administrative structure of the institute in 2005 the erstwhile ‘Division of Helminthology’ became a part of the ‘Centre for Epidemiology and Parasitic Diseases’  and was renamed as “Department of Parasitic diseases” to reflect the broadened sphere of its activities.

 

 

      The Evolution  of the department has been as  follows:

 

·        1953- Established as ‘Filariology Section’ of the erstwhile ‘Malaria Institute of India’(MII) to address the Lymphatic Filariasis (LF) problem of the country

·        1955- ‘National Filaria Control Programme’ (NFCP) initiated under it.

·        1963- ‘Division of Filariology’ with NFCP under ‘National Institute of Communicable Diseases’(NICD)

·        1970- Central survey team established to conduct surveillance for LF in the non endemic areas of the country to authenticate their status.

·        1978- NFCP shifted to ‘National Anti Malaria Programme’ (NAMP)

·        1980- Renamed ‘Helminthology Division’ with the inclusion of ‘Intestinal Parasitic Laboratory’(IPI)

·        1984- ‘Guinea Worm Eradication Programme’ (GWEP) launched under its aegis

·        2000- ‘Morbidity management of Lymphatic Filariasis’ taken up to train adequate manpower to provide service to the affected individuals

·        2003- ‘Yaws Eradication Programme’ (YEP) of the country assigned to the division.

·        2004- Estimation of ‘Food Borne Trematodiasis’ and ‘Schistisomiasis’ in the country, taken up.

·        2005- The division’s mandate broadened to include the ‘Parasitic Diseases’ in general including emerging zoonotic parasites.

 

 

TheMission of the Department is to prevent and control parasitic diseases in the country.  This is done by conducting desired operational research, imparting requisite training to the in service health personnel and providing diagnostic and morbidity relief services to the community on the parasitic infections under its purview.

 

            Presently, its sphere of activities include:

·        Lymphatic filariasis

·        Soil-transmitted helminths (STH) & Intestinal parasitic infections

·        Yaws Eradication Programme

·        Guinea Worm Eradication Programme

·        Food borne Trematodiases

·        Emerging zoonotic parasites viz., Trypanosoma lewisi. 

 

           

The Department has three NICD branches under its administrative control. These branches (originally established to intensely deal with the LF problem in the endemic areas) at Kozhikode (Kerala), Rajahmundry (Andhra Pradesh) and Varanasi (Uttar Pradesh) were established in 1955, 1963 and 1965 respectively. 

Lymphatic Filariasis:

           

           
The Department has been a pioneer research and training centre for Lymphatic Filariasis in the country. It has contributed in the drafting and implementation of the National Filaria control programme of the country. More than 400 research publications on LF have been contributed. It was recognized as a WHO collaborative centre for training in the field from 1982-1986.

           
Presently, support by way of LF training of health personnel in the country is provided to ‘National Filaria Elimination Programme’. Operational research  relating to mass drug administration (MDA) includes development of  drug delivery strategies in urban areas and feasibility of co-administration of DEC with albendazole. In addition commercially available diagnostic tools are being evaluated for their efficacy against the traditional night blood smear (NBS).

The department acts as “Diagnostics Reference Laboratory’ for LF and provides service in this regard to the hospital referred patients. Advise on morbidity management is also provided to the chronic cases referred.

Soil-transmitted helminths (STH):         
STH surveys using Kato-Katz techniques and standard sampling methodology is being carried out in the various ecological zones of country.

Yaws Eradication Programme (YEP) in India.

Yaws is a chronic contagious non venereal disease caused by the bacteria Treponema pallidum subsp. pertenue. It primarily affects the skin, bones & cartilage and is transmitted by direct contact with the infected skin lesions. Yaws occurs primarily in the warm, humid, tropical areas. In India , the disease has been reported from the tribal communities living in hilly and forested areas.

Yaws Eradication Programme (YEP) was approved as a central sector programme to be taken up on pilot basis in Koraput district (undivided) of Orissa on 14 February, 1996 by Government of India. Subsequently, the programme was extended to the 49 endemic districts (under the states of Chattishgarh, Orissa, Andhra Pradesh, Maharashtra. Madhya Pradesh, Tamil Nadu, Assam, Jharkhand, Uttar Pradesh and Gujarat) of the country withNational Institute of Communicable Diseases (NICD) as the nodal agency for planning, guidance, coordination, monitoring and evaluation of the programme.

The programme strategy includes manpower development, detection and treatment of cases and contacts, and IEC activities harnessing multi-sectoral approach.

The programme is implemented by the State Health Directorate of yaws endemic states utilizing existing health care delivery system with the coordination and collaboration of Department of Tribal Welfare and other related institutions. The state/ district health authorities are implementing the programme with technical and financial support from Govt. of India through NICD. The State and District nodal officers are responsible for monitoring and supervising programme implementation at the peripheral level. The programme is being monitored through field visit to the programme states/ districts by NICD officers and review meetings of programme officers to assess programme implementation, sorting out bottlenecks and making action plans. 

             

National Health Policy 2002 had set the goal of eradication (i.e. no sero-reactivity to RPR/VDRL in under 5 year children in the yaws affected areas after nil reporting for three years)/elimination of Yaws by 2005.  However, due to the reported cases in 2003,  the target date for eradication was rescheduled to 2009 by the Government.

Since no cases have been reported since 2004, the status of YEP in India was reviewed in ‘The fifth Task Force meeting’ on 31/5/06 and it was recommended  that yaws be declared as eliminated from  the country. ‘Elimination of Yaws from the country’ was formally declared by the Hon’ble Health and Family welfare Minister on 19^th Sept. 2006 at Vigyan Bhawan, New Delhi.

Guinea Worm Eradication Programme (GWEP):

           

The department was identified as the nodal agency for ‘Guinea worm eradication programme’ of the country launched in 1984. 

           

At the beginning of the Programme about 40,000 Guinea worm cases were occurring annually in 12,840 endemic villages across 89 districts of the then endemic states, viz. Andhra Pradesh, Gujarat, Karnataka, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra and Rajasthan. The State of Tamil Nadu remained free from GW disease since 1982.

 

           
The last case was reported in July 1996 in Jodhpur district of Rajasthan. The country was certified by ‘International Commision for Certification of Disease Eradication’ (ICCDE), World Health Organisation as disease free on February 15, 2000 . Routine surveillance and IEC in all former endemic states was recommended to be continued till global eradication of the disease is achieved, is being carried out.

Food borne Trematodiases:

           

The available epidemiological data on ‘Food borne trematodiasis’ in the country is extremely patchy and consists of chiefly the hospital based case reports except for Fasciolopsis for which the country is considered endemic and Paragonimiasis where a the few prevalence studies have been conducted. Altogether 13 species have been recovered from humans. These with their recorded distribution are shown in the map. 

 

1.             Artyfechinostomum malayanum (Leiper, 1911)

2.             Artyfechinostomum oraoni Bandopadhyay, Manna & Nandy, 1989

3.              Clonorchis sinensis (Cobbold, 1875)

4.             Echinostoma ilocanum (Garrison, 1908)

5.             Echinostoma malayanum Leiper, 1911

6.             Fasciola hepatica Linnaeus, 1758

7.             Fasciola gigantica (Cobbold, 1875)

8.             Fasciolopsis buski (Lankester, 1857)

9.             Gastrodiscoides hominis (Lewis et McConneal, 1876)

10.          Metagnomius yokogawai (Katsurada, 1912)

11.           Paragonimus heterotremus Chen and Hsia, 1964

12.          Paragonimus skrjabini Chen,1959

13.           Paragonimus westermani (Kerbert, 1878)

 

The department has played an active role in educating (by publishing and circulating the appropriate information) the health officials at the peripheral levels (where the problem exists) so as to awaken and alert them against the problem.

           

Emerging zoonotic parasites: viz., Trypanosoma lewisi. 

 

Trypanosomiasis has been an emerging zoonosis in India in recent years (2004-07). The species responsible for the human infection were Trypanosoma evansi (the aetiological agent of Surra in animals) responsible for the case (46 year old male in village Seoni, district Chandrapur) in 2004 and T. (Herpetosoma) lewisi, a common non pathogenic parasite of the genus Rattus, for the two cases in 2006(two month old infant in Mumbai) and 2007(5 year old male from Village Paud, District Pune).

           

 

The department has played a crucial role in investigating the epidemiology of these emerging zoonosis in Maharashtra where all the three recent cases occurred and advising the health authorities for appropriate surveillance and IEC for prevention.

           

 

A vigil is also kept on the imported Human African Trypanosomiasis cases.