India develops world's first leprosy vaccine

In early August, health officials in Jharkhand launched a leprosy control campaign anticipating hidden contaminations of the disease among tribal populations. In the first half of 2016, 142 new leprosy cases were detected in Nizamabad district of Telangana raising fears of a bigger outbreak.

India has the largest burden of leprosy in the world at about 60% of the 1.25 lakh people affected every year around the world. India also runs one of the largest leprosy control programmes – the National Leprosy Elimination Programme – in the world.

But health official are looking at the new hope to eliminate the disease, which is a vaccine that has been developed by the National Institute of Immunology in Delhi. The vaccine that is supposed to be administered to people living in close contact with those affected by Mycobacterium leprae, which causes the disease, has been approved by the Drug Controller General of India and the Food and Drug Administration in the US.

Trials of the new vaccine will be conducted in five districts of Bihar and Gujarat. Director general of the Indian Council of Medical Research Soumya Swaminathan says that the vaccine has the potential reduce the number of leprosy cases by 60% in three years.

If successful, this would fit in with the World Health Organisation’s ambition of eliminating leprosy, a curable and non-contagious disease, from by the world by 2020.

But India has also been slow in stopping discriminatory practices against people affected by leprosy due to various discriminatory laws including those that allow leprosy as a legitimate grounds for divorce. Several legislative and judicial measures that have been suggested need to be implemented to ensure the end to such discrimination.

WHO recommends a quicker test for TB

In what could be welcome development for those suffering from tuberculosis in rural India, the World Health Organization has recommeneded the use of rapid and robust test to diagnose the disease that can be used in health centres with minimal laboratory infrastructure. The new test is an alternative to sputum smear microscopy, which is the commonly used method of testing for tuberculosis.

The new method called TB-LAMP, short for loop-mediated isothermal amplification uses a method that has already been efficient in detecting malaria and neglected tropical diseases, says the WHO.

Odisha doctors threaten resignation

With continuing attacks against doctors, the Odisha Medical Services Association has threatened that its members will to resign en masse in September 1 if the government does not put in measures for their security by then.

A doctor in Balasore had to be admitted into intensive care after he was attacked by the family member of a patient who died. Two other cases of assaults against doctors were recorded in the state in the past three days.

The association has asked for the proper implementation of the Orissa Medicare Service Persons and Medicare Service Institutions (Prevention of Violence and Damage to Property) Act and immediate action y the police in such cases.

Surgical hook left inside patient in Kerala

A woman had to undergo and emergency operation at the Thiruvananthapuram Medical College after it was found that she had a surgical hook inside her after previous procedure at Nedumangad Taluk Hospital near the city. The woman is now reported to be stable.

Doctors at the taluk hospital discovered that the hook was missing during a count of surgical equipment after the surgery. Flagging the mistake, the doctors had the patient scanned and shifted to the bigger hospital for the second surgery to remove the hook.

Disease detective dies

American epidemiologist Donald Henderson, who led the charge against smallpox and helped in its eradication, died at the age of 87. Henderson called himself a “disease detective” and led the group of public health workers who set out to battle small pox in the 1960s and 1970s.