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हिन्दी — Read in HindiCommunicable diseases, animal health and One Health
Infectious diseases in people and animals: outbreaks, surveillance, India's disease programmes, and the One Health approach that joins human, animal and environmental health. Prelims has asked which disease the H1N1 virus is linked to and whether viruses spread only through vectors.
Foundation note: The diseases Prelims asks: pathogen, vector, programme
Showing 4 of 13 articles, those that changed from 1 to 30 June 2026.Show all
Outbreaks in people
Kerala's water borne diseases
Copy link to Kerala's water borne diseasesPrelims
Kerala faces recurrent water borne disease: shigellosis, hepatitis A, norovirus, acute diarrhoeal disease and amoebic meningoencephalitis, linked to faecal contamination of domestic wells and ponds.
- Shigella is a rod shaped, gram negative bacterium that spreads by the faeco oral route, and multi drug resistant Shigella is present across India.
- Amoebic meningoencephalitis is a rare and usually fatal brain infection caused by free living amoebae in warm fresh water that enter through the nose.
What changed
22 Jun 2026BriefA shigellosis outbreak first detected at Kuttikkattoor, Kozhikode, spread to Wayanad, Malappuram and Kannur. Mains: the outbreaks reflect under investment in sewerage and water systems outside the health sector, not a failure of public health, and need inter sectoral action. The Hindu, 22 Jun 2026: Kerala's battle with water-borne diseases (opens in a new tab) · The Hindu, 14 Jun 2026: Shigella | Virulent bacterium (opens in a new tab)
Ebola: the Bundibugyo strain
Copy link to Ebola: the Bundibugyo strainPrelims and Mains
The Bundibugyo strain is one of several species of Ebola, with a fatality rate of up to 40 per cent and no approved vaccine or treatment.
- The Zaire strain has an approved vaccine, Ervebo, built on the rVSV platform.
- Candidate vaccines against Bundibugyo reuse proven platforms: rVSV, and ChAdOx1, the platform of the Oxford AstraZeneca COVID 19 vaccine.
- Oxford and the Serum Institute of India are developing the ChAdOx1 Bundibugyo vaccine.
- Confirmation needs a strain specific polymerase chain reaction (PCR) test available in few laboratories.
- Rapid tests built for the Zaire species miss cases until viral load is very high, which delays diagnosis and isolation.
What changed
29 Jun 2026
- The outbreak in eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo, declared on 15 May, had the most confirmed cases in a first month of any African Ebola outbreak and spread to Uganda.
- WHO declared a Public Health Emergency of International Concern on 17 May under the International Health Regulations (2005).
- India had no confirmed case and launched Air Suvidha 2.0, a self declaration portal in which international arrivals give a 21 day travel history shared in real time with the Airport Health Officer, immigration and the Integrated Disease Surveillance Programme.
Mains: preparedness is strongest for crises seen repeatedly and weakest for novel ones, so it must become broader, not only deeper, with stable financing as global health funding falls.
The Hindu, 29 Jun 2026: U.S. starts vaccine effort for Ebola Bundibugyo as outbreak spreads (opens in a new tab) · The Hindu, 24 Jun 2026: Congo's Ebola outbreak has most cases in first month of any African outbreak, WHO says (opens in a new tab) · PIB, 25 Jun 2026: Ministry of Civil Aviation & DIAL Launch AIR SUVIDHA 2.0 Portal for Ebola Health Screening at Points of Entry (PoEs) in India (opens in a new tab) · The Hindu, 24 Jun 2026: France confirms Ebola virus in patient who worked in Congo (opens in a new tab) · The Indian Express, 26 Jun 2026: DRC Ebola outbreak: modelling study on risk of cross-border spread (opens in a new tab) · The Indian Express, 21 Jun 2026: The outbreak is outpacing us: Inside Congo's fight against rare Ebola strain (opens in a new tab) · The Hindu, 5 Jun 2026: What Bundibugyo Ebola vaccines and treatments are under development (opens in a new tab) · The Hindu, 2 Jun 2026: WHO says suspected Ebola cases drop to 116 after hundreds ruled out (opens in a new tab) · The Indian Express, 11 Jun 2026: From Hantavirus to Ebola, pandemic preparedness must become broader (opens in a new tab)
Programmes and treaties
National Leprosy Eradication Programme
Copy link to National Leprosy Eradication ProgrammePrelims
India eliminated leprosy as a public health problem nationally in 2005 (prevalence below one per 10,000), but transmission continues in endemic districts.
- The programme's strategy is periodic case detection campaigns, contact tracing and post exposure prophylaxis with single dose rifampicin for healthy contacts.
- Disability is prevented through reconstructive surgery and protective footwear.
What changed
12 Jun 2026BriefMaharashtra, Chhattisgarh, Jharkhand, Odisha and Madhya Pradesh carry nearly half the burden; Chhattisgarh, Jharkhand, Odisha, Maharashtra and Chandigarh have not reached elimination at State level. PIB, 12 Jun 2026: Union Health Ministry Convenes Regional Workshop to Strengthen Strategies for a Leprosy-Free India (opens in a new tab)
TB Mukt Bharat Abhiyaan
Copy link to TB Mukt Bharat AbhiyaanPrelims and Mains
The intensified 100 day TB Mukt Bharat Abhiyaan, a campaign against tuberculosis (TB), moves from waiting for patients to active case finding in villages, urban wards and congregate settings.
- It screens through Ayushman Arogya Shivirs, handheld X ray, Truenat and cartridge based nucleic acid amplification tests (CBNAAT).
- Nikshay Mitras give community support, and nutritional support is stressed to cut mortality.
What changed
19 Jun 2026BriefThe Health Minister reviewed the second phase of the campaign, due to end in the first week of July. In ten years TB incidence fell by about a quarter and deaths by more than a third, from 2014 to 2024. PIB, 19 Jun 2026: Union Health Minister Chairs High-Level Virtual Review Meeting of TB Mukt Bharat Abhiyan with all States and UTs; Calls for Push Towards a TB-Free India (opens in a new tab)
Also filed elsewhere
- Dengue vaccines: Qdenga, DengiAll and antibody dependent enhancement · on Vaccines and immunisation
Dengue has four serotypes, and antibodies from a first infection can help a different serotype enter cells in a second, which is antibody dependent enhancement and is why dengue vaccines are hard to design: vaccination raises type specific antibodies, which block one serotype, and cross reactive antibodies, which block all four only at high levels and can enhance a new infection into severe dengue once they wane.