ICMR lists important pathogens causing critical infections

THE Division of Communicable Diseases of Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) has listed important pathogens causing critical infectious syndromes in India to guide patient management, public health policies, and biomedical research and development (R&D).

- Shardul Nautiyal

This will help and guide in syndromic surveillance of infectious diseases and identify priority pathogens to be tested in Indian clinical settings.

The laboratory testing algorithms for infectious diseases currently followed in India are varied, institute/region-specific, and largely directed towards individual diseases with sequential testing. There is also limited availability of scientific literature on countrywide prevalence and trends of pathogens to guide India-specific surveillance and testing policies. Consequently, pathogen testing in clinical microbiology laboratories differs as per institutional requirements and available laboratory resources, often missing out on common/critical pathogens, thereby hampering patient care and aggravating public health problems such as antimicrobial resistance.