New Delhi: The Union Health Ministry has deployed a National Joint Outbreak Response Team (NJORT) to Gujarat and Rajasthan to strengthen the public health response after the two states reported a spike in Chandipura virus cases, the ministry said in a press release.
The ministry said the deployment follows sustained research by premier institutions across the country, alongside continuous surveillance under the Integrated Disease Surveillance Programme (IDSP), coordinated by the National Centre for Disease Control (NCDC) in collaboration with State Surveillance Units.
These coordinated efforts aim to advance the understanding of the virus, including its transmission dynamics, clinical spectrum, epidemiology, and potential treatment approaches, while guiding evidence-based public health interventions.
The move comes after Gujarat reported that 22 children had died due to the Chandipura virus, with 35 confirmed cases out of 184 suspected infections as of Monday.
Rajasthan has also reported two deaths linked to the virus and has stepped up surveillance along its border with Gujarat.
According to the ministry, the NCDC’s Public Health Emergency Operations Centre (PHEOC) has also been activated to support the outbreak response.
The multidisciplinary NJORT comprises experts from the NCDC, the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR), and the Department of Animal Husbandry and Dairying (DAHD).
The team will work closely with the state health departments to review the on-ground response and submit recommendations to the ministry after completing its field assessment.
The deployment brings together specialists in epidemiology, virology, entomology, veterinary sciences, and laboratory diagnostics to better understand the full clinical spectrum of Chandipura virus infection—from mild febrile illness to Acute Encephalitis Syndrome (AES)—and generate evidence to strengthen public health interventions.
Experts from ICMR–National Institute of Epidemiology (ICMR-NIE), Chennai; ICMR–National Institute of Vector Control Research (ICMR-NIVCR), Puducherry; ICMR–National Institute of Virology (ICMR-NIV), Pune; ICMR–National Institute for Pre-Clinical Research (ICMR-NIPCR), Hyderabad; and ICAR–National Institute of Veterinary Epidemiology and Disease Informatics (ICAR-NIVEDI), Bengaluru, will work in close coordination with the Gujarat State Health Department to investigate the outbreak.
According to the ministry, the investigation aims to intensify surveillance for Acute Febrile Illness (AFI) and Acute Encephalitis Syndrome (AES), estimate asymptomatic spread through serosurveys, and test sandflies and other arthropods including mosquitoes, ticks, and mites to identify the vector.
The investigation will also determine whether cattle, buffaloes, and goats act as viral reservoirs and assess whether the virus has undergone genetic evolution through whole-genome sequencing at the Gujarat Biotechnology Research Centre (GBRC), Gandhinagar.
These efforts build on lessons from Gujarat’s 2024 outbreak and findings from ICMR-NIV Pune’s research. They are supported by the National Joint Outbreak Response Team and India’s 15-hospital AES Surveillance Network, reflecting a coordinated “One Health” approach across Gujarat and Rajasthan, the ministry added.
