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Communicable diseases, animal health and One Health
Infectious disease in people and animals and the surveillance that catches it: outbreaks, zoonoses, neglected tropical diseases, livestock disease, and the international rules for pandemics. Prelims has asked which disease the H1N1 virus is linked to and whether viruses spread only through vectors.
UPSC has asked
- Prelims 2013: whether viruses spread only through biological vectors
6 Aug 2026 · Prelims and Mains
Chandipura virus
A sandfly bite in a village in Gujarat or Rajasthan can end in brain inflammation, and it is children who are affected. What is still unsettled is how the virus actually reaches them, which is why the investigation is running through animals as well as insects.
- Chandipura virus is spread mainly by sandflies, and causes a fever that can progress to acute encephalitis syndrome, brain inflammation.
- It falls mostly on children.
- At least 22 children had died in Gujarat and Rajasthan by 6 August 2026.
- Mosquitoes, ticks and mites are being tested alongside the sandfly as vectors.
- Cattle, buffaloes and goats are being tested as reservoir hosts, so the National Centre for Disease Control (NCDC), ICMR and the Department of Animal Husbandry went in as one team.
- Testing animals beside people is One Health in practice, the approach that also ties crowded, antibiotic dosed livestock farming to antimicrobial resistance and to the spillover of pathogens.
The Hindu, 6 Aug 2026: Chandipura virus outbreak in Gujarat and Rajasthan (opens in a new tab) · PIB, 5 Aug 2026: Chandipura virus outbreak: national response team deployed (opens in a new tab)
3 Aug 2026 · Prelims and Mains
Leptospirosis
Kerala's monsoon leaves standing water that rodents have been in, and a bacterium in it enters through a cut on a bare foot. It is a zoonotic infection, carried from animals rather than from other people, and what kills is usually how late it is recognised.
- Leptospirosis is caused by the bacterium Leptospira, and does not pass from person to person.
- It is picked up from water or soil contaminated by infected animals, through cuts or mucous membranes.
- Heavy monsoon rain, floods and humidity help Leptospira survive, and rodents living near homes are its reservoir.
- Farmers, cleaners and construction workers are the most exposed.
- It killed 50 people in Kerala in July 2026, which made it the State's deadliest communicable disease.
- Late diagnosis is what carries the infection on to pulmonary haemorrhage and multi-organ failure.
3 Sep 2026 · Prelims and Mains
Influenza A (H1N1)
Subtypes of influenza A are named for two proteins on the virus surface, haemagglutinin (H) and neuraminidase (N). H1N1 is the pairing that caused the 2009 pandemic, and it did not go away afterwards but settled into the seasonal mix.
- By 3 September 2026 seasonal influenza had surged across India, with H1N1 reported from several cities.
- This season's vaccine matched the circulating H1N1 strain, but uptake is low.
UPSC has asked
- Prelims 2015: the disease the H1N1 virus is linked to
See also: Influenza surveillance
3 Sep 2026 · Prelims and Mains
Influenza surveillance
The surge was the first real test of the surveillance India built after COVID-19. What it exposed is a system that watches continuously without ever having to declare that anything has begun.
Testing
- Influenza like illness and severe acute respiratory infection (SARI) samples tested year round
- No alert thresholds
Coordination
- Split between ICMR, NCDC and the States
Treatment
- Under 10 per cent of admitted patients get antivirals
- An integrated command structure was proposed to replace that split.
- Surges are compared fairly by incidence rather than by raw case counts.
- Wastewater surveillance can give early warning of a novel pathogen.
See also: Influenza A (H1N1)
The Indian Express, 3 Sep 2026: India's current flu spike is a test for the next pandemic. Failure is not an option (opens in a new tab) · Frontline, 8 Sep 2026: Public health is political: Brian Wahl (opens in a new tab)
12 Aug 2026 · Prelims and Mains
Biological disaster preparedness
A biological disaster is handled under disaster management law rather than as a health emergency alone, which puts several agencies into the same response. In August 2026 the Health Ministry set out how India prepares for one, and what it listed was the pieces already in place since before the pandemic rather than one new plan.
- The Ministry of Health and Family Welfare is the nodal ministry for a biological disaster.
- The National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA) issued Guidelines on Management of Biological Disasters in 2008.
- The National Disaster Management Plan of 2019 sits alongside them.
- ICMR runs over 150 Virus Research and Diagnostic Laboratories and two mobile BSL-3 laboratories.
- National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) teams are trained for chemical, biological, radiological and nuclear (CBRN) response.
- PM-ABHIM, the Pradhan Mantri Ayushman Bharat Health Infrastructure Mission, builds capacity against emerging diseases.
PIB, 12 Aug 2026: Preparedness framework for biological disasters (opens in a new tab)
Lumpy skin disease
Lumpy skin disease has been in India's cattle since 2019, and the answer to it has been vaccination with an indigenous vaccine. The cases reported since July 2026 have been sporadic and mainly in animals that were never vaccinated.
8 Sep 2026 · Prelims
Lumpy skin disease
Lumpy skin disease reached India's cattle in 2019 and has not left, so the work against it is surveillance and vaccination rather than a declared end to it. Because an insect carries it from animal to animal, control has to work on the vector as much as on the sick animal.
Pathogen
- A virus of the genus Capripoxvirus
- Same group as sheeppox and goatpox
Spread
- Biting flies
- Mosquitoes
- Ticks
Effects
- Generally low mortality
- Does not infect humans
Control
- Ring vaccination
- Movement control and vector control
- Isolation of sick animals
- Quarantine of new animals
- India's first cases were recorded in West Bengal and Odisha in 2019.
- The Department of Animal Husbandry and Dairying reported that cases have come sporadically since July 2026, mainly in unvaccinated animals.
- It has strengthened surveillance, vaccination and disease control in response.
8 Sep 2026 · Prelims
Lumpi-ProVacInd
The vaccine India uses against the disease was developed at home rather than imported. It is given as a first cover and again as revaccination, and the campaign is reported in animals reached rather than in outbreaks ended.
- Lumpi-ProVacInd, the indigenous vaccine, was co-developed by the Indian Council of Agricultural Research's National Research Centre on Equines, Hisar.
- More than 36 crore cattle had been vaccinated or revaccinated by 8 September 2026.