State public health lab develops molecular tests to identify deadly amoeba
The State Public Health Laboratory, one of the apex referral laboratories in the State, has developed its own molecular diagnostic test kits to identify five common species of free living amoeba (FLA) which are toxic to humans and which can cause amoebic meningoencephalitis. A highly fatal brain infection, cases of amoebic meningoencephalitis are being reported frequently in Kerala now.
'It was a proud moment for us when we identified Acanthamoeba spp. as the pathogenic organism in one of the acute encephalitis syndrome (AES) samples that we received from the Thiruvananthapuram Government Medical College on Thursday. It was also the first human sample in which we could identify the organism, after we developed the molecular diagnostic test kits six months ago,' says S. Sunija, Director of the State PH Lab.
Early identification of the pathogen and treatment are crucial for saving lives when it comes to amoebic meningoencephalitis. Now that the PH lab has developed its own molecular (PCR) assays for identifying the pathogenic organism in human samples, Kerala no longer needs to depend on prime diagnostic facilities outside the State, such as PGI Chandigarh, for confirmatory diagnosis of amoebic meningoencephalitis.
Over 400 species
Though there are over 400 species of free living amoeba in the environment, only six have been documented to be pathogenic to humans. The State PH lab is also the only lab which has the ability to identify five of these toxic organisms — Naegleria fowleri, Acanthamoeba spp., Vermamoeba vermiformis, Balamuthia mandrillaris and Paravahlkampfia francinae.
'Till now, through the microbiological examination of cerebrospinal fluid samples, we could make only a presumptive diagnosis that it was a trophozoite causing the encephalitis. Naegleria fowleri being the one that causes the most fatal disease, our protocol was to start the patient on the drug cocktail for N. fowleri immediately. But now that the pathogen can be identified and confirmed early, we can optimise the drugs and give targeted treatment to the patient without delay,' says R. Aravind, Head of Infectious Diseases, Government Medical College, Thiruvananthapuram.
To labs outside the State
Ever since the State began reporting cases of amoebic encephalitis, the lack of confirmatory diagnosis for identifying the causative organism had been a huge challenge. Sending the samples to labs outside the State in proper condition and getting a diagnosis was time consuming.
It was when cases began to be reported on a fairly regular basis — especially since the State issued a directive that all AES samples be tested for amoebic encephalitis too — that the State PH lab was assigned the task of developing molecular test kits for identifying the trophozoite.
'Free living amoeba is an ubiquitous organism found in the environment and till Thursday we had been testing only environmental samples. This is the first time we could identify Acanthamoeba in one of the patient samples,' Dr. Sunija says.
However, testing water samples from the environment becomes important if the organism found in the human samples is Naegleria fowleri. In that case, the waterbody implicated will have to be tested and public warning issued to avoid it.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
The Hindu
4 days ago
- The Hindu
What is IIT-Delhi's quantum communications breakthrough?
The story so far: On June 16, the Ministry of Defence said in a statement that IIT-Delhi scientists together with the Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) demonstrated quantum communication over a distance of more than 1 km in free space. The development was hailed as a breakthrough in quantum cybersecurity. What is quantum communication? When two or more photons, the subatomic particles of light, are created in just the right way, measurements made on one photon will instantly determine the result for the partner photon, too — even if the photons are far apart. This phenomenon is called quantum entanglement. Ordinary or classical physics can't explain this correlation, it's a purely quantum phenomenon. Quantum communication is an umbrella term for any scheme that uses the concepts of quantum physics, but especially entanglement, to make a given communication channel leak-proof. In one scheme, like the one the IIT-Delhi team demonstrated, entangled photons carry information from a source to two stations. If any third party intercepts one of the photons, the other photon will immediately be disturbed as well and the channel will be revealed as insecure. In short, quantum communication can be used to create communication channels that are protected against computational attacks since any attempt to tap the quantum channel will itself be revealed. Thus they have great value in defence settings. An important method in quantum communication is quantum key distribution (QKD). How does QKD work? If Bala has a message for Selvi that he wants only Selvi to receive, a simple way is to send a letter. At the address, the postal worker will deposit the letter into a letterbox. The location of the letterbox is public knowledge, but only Selvi will have the key to access it. The key is private knowledge. Receiving email works similarly: Bala will send an email to Selvi's email ID (public knowledge) and Selvi will use her password (private knowledge) to access it. QKD is a specialised form of quantum communication whose sole purpose is to help Bala and Selvi possess identical secret keys. Once they both have the key, they can unlock and read the messages they send each other. Note that QKD doesn't encrypt the message itself: that's achieved using traditional algorithms like AES. Instead QKD helps both parties acquire the key to unlock that encryption in a secure way. There are two kinds of QKD. In the classic prepare-and-measure way, Bala prepares single photons in some predetermined states and Selvi measures them. In entanglement-based QKD, a source creates entangled photon pairs and sends one photon to Bala and the other to Selvi. What did the IIT-Delhi team do? The IIT-Delhi team, led by Prof. Bhaskeri Kanseri, transmitted keys through the air using entanglement-based QKD, across a distance of 1 km in the IIT campus. This is a step up from transmitting photons through an optical fibre. The greater goal here is to establish reliable QKD between a ground station and a satellite orbiting the earth hundreds of kilometres up. This way the satellite can distribute keys to receivers anywhere in India by beaming photons through the atmosphere. Notably, the test demonstrated 'a secure key rate of nearly 240 bits per second with a quantum bit error rate of less than 7%'. When the photons reach Bala and Selvi, they will measure each particle. Since they're entangled, the measurements have to match up. In this case the measurements disagreed <7% of the time, which is considered acceptable for the present scheme. Common sources of error include turbulence in the air, detector noise, and artificial lighting. Previously, Prof. Kanseri's team had demonstrated a quantum communications link between Vindhyachal and Prayagraj in Uttar Pradesh in 2022. The year after, they increased the distance to 380 km with a spool of standard telecom fibre and a quantum bit error rate of 1.48%. In 2024, they established a QKD scheme through more than 100 km of an optical fibre link. What next? The IIT-Delhi team demonstrated the technology in the presence of dignitaries from the DRDO, the institute, and the Directorate of Futuristic Technology Management, including the director of the DRDO-Industry-Academia Centre of Excellence at the IIT. After the event, Minister of Defence Rajnath Singh said India had 'entered into a new quantum era of secure communication which will be a game-changer in future warfare.' These changes entail a quantum network with multiple nodes maintaining quantum communications. In 2021, China created the world's first quantum network with two ground-to-satellite links and optical fibres together covering 4,600 km. Quantum communications has important civilian applications too, especially in the banking and telecom sectors. A future 'quantum internet' of the sort the U.S. expects to possess by the mid-2030s could also enable distributed quantum computing, ultra-precise sensing, and network-wide secure time synchronisation in addition to secure messaging. To help scientists develop such technologies, the Indian government approved the National Quantum Mission in 2023 with an outlay (2023-2031) of Rs 6,000 crore.
The Hindu
7 days ago
- The Hindu
Karaikal agri institute plans to offer soil health testing to local farmers
The Puducherry Agricultural College and Research Institute (PAJANCOA & RI) in Karaikal plans to extend the use of its advanced Microwave Plasma-Atomic Emission Spectrometer (MP-AES) to local farmers, enabling them to make informed decisions based on accurate soil health analysis. The ₹43.5 lakh MP-AES machine, inaugurated in August 2023, is being used by students to assess nutrient levels in soil, food, crops, and fertilizers. The institution now plans to allow nearby farmers to access this facility and gain scientific insights into their soil conditions. 'We have the most advanced equipment of this kind in the Puducherry Union Territory. Even nearby districts such as Nagapattinam and Tiruvarur lack such infrastructure,' said Dean A. Pouchepparadjou. 'Our students benefit from it already, and we now plan to help local farmers analyse their soil for better crop outcomes.' K. Coumaravel, Associate Professor of Soil Science and Agricultural Chemistry, said misuse or overuse of fertilisers has contributed to ongoing soil degradation. 'Most farmers rely on informal advice. Scientific testing is crucial,' he said. The MP-AES identifies key micronutrients such as zinc, copper, manganese, and iron. 'By detecting what is deficient or in excess, farmers can adopt targeted nutrient management practices,' Dr. Coumaravel added. He emphasised that routine soil testing before cultivation can improve yields and promote sustainable farming.
India Today
12-06-2025
- India Today
97% of Tamil Nadu's elderly have Covid-19 antibodies: What is seropositivity?
A recent serosurvey conducted in Tamil Nadu has revealed that nearly all elderly participants, around 97%, showed seropositivity for means that most of them had protective antibodies against the SARS-CoV-2 virus, which indicates either they were previously exposed to the virus or received is the fifth phase of the Covid-19 serosurvey conducted by the Directorate of Public Health and Preventive Medicine (DPH) and the State Public Health Laboratory (SPHL).advertisement The survey was carried out in April 2024 after a three-year gap, the last such study was conducted in December samples were collected from 3,643 elderly individuals across six districts: Chennai, Tiruvallur, Tiruvannamalai, Tiruchi, Dharmapuri, and is a serosurvey?Serosurveys are used to detect the presence of antibodies in the blood. Most of elderly surveyed in Tamil Nadu had protective antibodies against the SARS-CoV-2 virus. () These antibodies, particularly Immunoglobulin G (IgG), develop after a person is infected with a virus or receives a antibodies are detected through blood tests, the individual is said to be "seropositive."advertisementThis helps scientists and health authorities understand how widely a disease has spread in a community, even among people who did not show symptoms or were never of 1,214 samples that were initially tested in this phase, 97% had IgG antibodies to SARS-CoV-2."In this situation, a non-virulent strain (of SARS-CoV-2) may not cause much impact, but it is important for persons with co-morbidities, pregnant women, immune-compromised persons, and the elderly to take precautions while visiting public places," Tamil Nadu Health Minister Ma. Subramanian told reporters on Wednesday, pointing to the recent surge in new Omicron variants in is seropositivity?According to the National Cancer Institute, seropositivity generally indicates that the immune system has responded to a virus, such as SARS-CoV-2, by creating antibodies. When antibodies are detected through blood tests, the individual is said to be It does not, however, tell us how strong the immunity is or how long it will last. For that, further tests are required to assess the exact nature and strength of the immune global studies show that the effectiveness of vaccines in creating antibodies varies. A 2023 analysis found that after the third dose of Covid-19 vaccines, the rate of seropositivity ranged around 67%, and for specific high-risk groups like solid organ transplant recipients, seroconversion rates improved after booster this context, Tamil Nadu's 97% seropositivity among the elderly stands out as a reassuring InMust Watch
