From brucella, anthrax, leptospira and rabies, the Disease Diagnostic Laboratory has raised the bar to provide accurate diagnosis of coronavirus in humans, thus taking a giant leap in taming the pandemic.
The lab was established under the Rashtriya Krishi Vigyan Yojana (RKVY) project at the College of Veterinary Science on the sprawling Sri Venkateswara Veterinary University (SVVU) campus in 2009 for diagnosis of various animal diseases and ailments of zoonotic significance, with the primary objective of improving animal health and production, which was later extended to human health.
BSL-III lab
The building has a bacteriology lab, molecular diagnostic lab, pathology lab, leptospira lab that take up culture and sensitivity of clinical samples, PCR and real-time PCR tests, analyse hematological parameters, histopathology and cytological examination, biochemical analysis of serum and urine samples and so on.
However, the feather in the facility’s cap is certainly the state-of-the-art ‘BSL-III lab’, a unique facility established with biosafety precautions to deal with the diagnosis of the most virulent organisms.
Hailed as being synonymous to accuracy in diagnosis, the lab has been catering to the needs of the farmers for improving poultry and livestock productivity, apart from playing a pivotal role in the forecast of disease onset and suggesting remedial and control measures.
“When COVID-19 struck, our lab chipped in to conduct TrueNat test on more than 3,000 samples during April-September 2020,” says SVVU Vice-Chancellor V. Padmanabha Reddy.
The lab provided the most accurate results when precision diagnosis gained importance during the pandemic, even as the patients and medical professionals were faced with “false positive and fake negative” results. “Our lab extends its facility for PG and Ph.D. students of various disciplines across universities to carry out research activities. The professionally-qualified teaching faculty is a major asset to this State-level lab,” adds the university’s Director of Research P. Eswara Prasad.
Cell culture
Buoyed by the successful handling of human samples last year, the lab has decided to look beyond animals, and opened its gates in March 2021 to provide diagnosis to humans on a no-profit basis.
Dr. Padmanabha Reddy has also announced to open cell culture facility at the lab, offering to release funds soon for the same.
