Animal Husbandry department kicks off sixth phase of Foot and Mouth Disease vaccination campaign in Kerala
Vaccination squads will visit households for vaccinating cows and buffaloes free of charge. According to the Animal Husbandry department, 13.4 lakh cows and one lakh buffaloes will be vaccinated over the 18-day campaign period. The department has constituted 1870 squads for the purpose. Each squad consists of a vaccinator and a helper, the department said in a statement here on Friday.
The sixth phase is being conducted by the Animal Husbandry and Dairy Development departments in close coordination with dairy cooperatives, local bodies and allied government machinery.
Launching the sixth phase at the District Veterinary Centre, Kozhikode, on Friday, Minister for Animal Husbandry J. Chinchurani said that the campaign will be completed in 18 days between May 2 and May 23. The government is aiming to eradicate FMD, which causes production loss in the dairy sector, by 2030, she said.
FMD vaccination is a key component of the National Animal Disease Control Programme (NADCP).
Kerala can claim the status of FMD-free region by ensuring 95% vaccination coverage over two consecutive years, according to the Animal Husbandry department.
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Indian Express
17 hours ago
- Indian Express
India's TB fight now has an X factor: AI-powered portable kit for early, fast detection
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A mobile device helps in remote pockets While the devices work on the same principle as the stationary X-ray machines found in hospitals, they are highly portable and battery-operated, making them ideal for use in hard-to-reach areas with limited resources. The devices are extremely light — weighing between 1.8 kg and 2.8kg — and can be carried around in a backpack. The device comes as a set of a digital SLR like X-ray beam generator, a flat digital panel X-ray detector, tripod to mount the detector and a laptop with in-built AI for reading the X-rays. The kits also contain a lead apron for technicians. The devices can take around 100 X-rays with a single charge — useful for camps in remote areas. What are ICMR-validated devices? There are three such AI-enabled X-ray devices that have been validated by the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) — LabIndia's Mine2, Mylab's MyBeam, and Prognosys' Prorad Atlas. 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With an archive of thousands of X-rays, scientists from the institute started training an AI model to first recognise abnormalities on an X-ray, then to distinguish between different types of abnormalities such as fluid in chest or cancerous tumours, and finally to definitively identify whether a person has TB. These portable X-ray machines were introduced in the national programme during the 100-day campaign that started in December last year, where vulnerable people from 347 high-risk districts were tested to find TB cases in the community, especially those without any symptoms and who were unlikely to reach a health centre for TB testing otherwise. How screening helped in drawing an accurate TB map During the 100-day campaign, 12.97 crore people were screened, of whom 7.19 lakh people were found to have TB. Importantly, 2.85 lakh of these patients were asymptomatic. There is usually a gap between the number of estimated TB cases in a country and the actual number of cases diagnosed — the difference is considered to be the missing cases, who may continue to spread the infection in the country. In India, this gap has been reducing, with more and more people getting diagnosed and receiving treatment. There were an estimated 28 lakh TB cases in India in 2023, with 25.2 lakh actually getting diagnosed, according to the latest available Global TB Report. To compare, there were an estimated 28.2 lakh TB cases in 2022 and 24.2 lakh were diagnosed.
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- India Gazette
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