ICAR Bio-safety level 3 animal lab near Jatni
April 1st, 2008
Following is an excerpt from a report in Kalinga Times.
A high security laboratory, which would be one of its kind in Southeast Asia, will be set up in Orissa this year to fight foot and mouth disease that affects about 470 million domestic livestock annually.
"The Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR), an autonomous national organisation under the central government, recently approved the establishment of the laboratory at Jatani on the outskirt of the capital city Bhubaneswar," director of the state animal husbandry department Bishnupada Sethi told IANS Sunday.
It is going to be the first such centre of India and one of its kind in Southeast Asia with the Bio Safety Level (3+) facilities which will work for proper control and containment of virulent, pathogenic and mutagenic foot and mouth disease viruses, he said.
Bio-safety Level 3 facility expands the capability of researchers to conduct research on potential viral agents that do not currently have vaccines or therapies.
… People working in laboratory wear special protective suits with filtered air supply and work within airtight cabinetry.
Foot and mouth disease is endemic in India. It is present almost in all parts of the country and occurs round the year. It also hits free-living and captive ungulates and elephants.
… The disease samples will be received from the entire country as well as from abroad for proper identification and characterisation of the biological pathogen that caused the disease.
It will also serve as a repository unit for various serotypes – a grouping of viruses of the foot and mouth disease, Sethi said.
The research will help in manufacturing of foot and mouth disease vaccine through proper inclusion of emerging strains of concerned virus, he added.
… The state government has already identified an area of 116.325 acres located 25 km away from the state capital to be given to ICAR for the laboratory.
The centre, which will also serve as a referral laboratory for the UN’s Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO), will be more technologically advanced than the High Security Animal Disease Laboratory at Bhopal in Madhya Pradesh, said B. Patnaik, a scientist.
Entry Filed under: Bhubaneswar-Cuttack-Puri- Khurda area (1),ICAR center on Foot and Mouth Disease, Argul, Jatni,ICAR institutes