International Conference on Brucellosis 2016

The 69th edition of three day International Conference on Brucellosis 2016 was organized by the Department of Biotechnology, Govt. of India in collaboration with Indian Council for Agriculture Research (ICAR) from November 16-18, 2016 at NASC Complex, New Delhi. The conference is result of DBT’s network programme on Brucellosis launched in 2012 to address this epidemiology and for development of new generation of vaccines and diagnostic kits.

Sh. Y. S. Chowdary Hon’ble Minister of State for Science & Technology and Earth Sciences inaugurated the conference and Shri Sudarshan Bhagat, Hon’ble Minister of State, Agriculture and Farmers Welfare, Govt. of India presided over the inauguration ceremony. Prof. K. Vijay Raghavan, Chief Patron & Secretary, DBT, Dr.Trilochan Mohapatra, Patron & Secretary, Department of Agricultural Research and Education & Director General, Indian Council of Agricultural Research and Dr. Nammalwar Sriranganathan, Chairman, International Brucellosis Society delivered their remarks. Welcome addresses were delivered by Dr. S R Rao, Organizing Secretary and Advisor, DBT and Dr. H. Rahman, Chairman and DDG, Animal Sciences, ICAR. The conference was well attended by more than 350 delegates with over 35% international participation. The conference witnessed 7 scientific oral session, 8 poster sessions, 37 speakers and over 119 poster presenters spread across 3 days of the conference.

The Minister of State for Science & Technology and Earth Sciences Shri Y.S. Chowdary, has called for villagers to be trained to handle animal diseases like Brucellosis on a cooperative basis. Speaking after inaugurating International Research Conference on Brucellosis in New Delhi, he expressed concern that Brucellosis is endemic in India and that it could spread to humans. He along with the Minister of State, Agriculture and Farmers Welfare Shri Sudarshan Bhagat, who presided over the meeting, released various vaccines and three new diagnostic kits. They also launched programme of “Brucella Free Villages” for implementation on pilot scale in 50 villages covering 10 states. This programme will be supported by guidelines and standard operating practices along with an IT enabled application.

Brucellosis is a dreadful disease caused by the genus of the bacteria known as Brucella infecting various species of Brucella cows, buffalos, sheep, goats, deer, pigs, dogs and other animals as well as humans. The disease causes economic losses of about Rs. 28000.00 Crores.

Human become infected by coming in contact with animals or animal product like meat and milk contaminated with these bacteria. Dairy man, veterinarians, butchers and other animal handlers are exposed to high risk of brucellosis infection. In humans brucellosis can cause range of symptoms that are similar to the flu and may include fever, sweats, headache, back pain and physical weakness. Severe infections of the central nervous system or lining of the heart may also occur. Quite often brucellosis is diagnosed after ruling out all other fevers such as those caused by malaria, typhoid, dengue etc. Therefore, the disease is under reported and many medical professionals are not even aware of the problem.

The International Brucellosis Conference 2016 provides a technical platform for scientist and experts from all over the world. Participants from 26 countries include USA, Belgium, Germany, Nigeria, Argentina, Spain, Turkey, Costa Rica, Norway, Nepal, Korea, Bangladesh, Armenia, Jordan, France, Iran, Mexico, Georgia, United Kingdom, Kenya, Thailand, Sudan, Azerbaijan, Cameroon, Sri Lanka. The three days deliberations would address various issues on Brucellosis covering broad and interdisciplinary field of “One Health” concept revolving around Brucella Pathogenesis & Host-pathogen interaction; Human Brucellosis; Epidemiology and Control; Brucella research in India; Canine and Wildlife Brucellosis; Diagnostic methods; and Vaccines & Immunology.

The Organising committee and delegates appreciated the arrangements, hospitality and overall management efforts of CIMGlobal India Pvt. Ltd.- the official conference manager for the event.

Further details are available at http://dbtbrucellosis.in/brucellosis2016/