Odisha sets up ultra-modern veterinary diagnostic lab

Odisha has set up an ultra-modern, veterinary diagnostic laboratory that would help the state to diagnose infectious emerging diseases like bird flu at home, an official said Friday.

The bio-safety level-2 laboratory has been established at an investment of Rs.64 lakh at the government-run Animal Disease Research Institute (ADRI) at Phulnakhara in the district of Cuttack, about 15 kms from the state capital Bhubaneswar.

The state's Agriculture, Fisheries and Animal Resources Development Minister Pradeep Maharathy inaugurated the laboratory Wednesday, commissioner-cum-secretary of the fishery and animal resources department Bishnupada Sethi told IANS.

Bio-safety levels (BSL) are designations of laboratories based on the degree of risk associated with the work being conducted and level of precautions required to isolate dangerous biological agents.

The levels of containment range from the lowest bio-safety level 1 to the highest at level 4.

The state already has a bio-safety level-1 facility, where the diagnosis of the common disease of animals and birds are carried out.

The state was previously depending on the High Security Animal Disease Laboratory at Bhopal, Regional Disease Diagnostic Laboratory at Kolkata and the Centre for Animal Disease Research and Diagnosis at Izatnagar in Uttar Pradesh for the diagnosis of the diseases like avian influenza (bird flu), goat pox, anthrax and brucella, Sethi said.

"The results of the samples sent to those laboratories were getting delayed and hence the service delivery to the farmers was immensely affected. With the establishment of BSL Level-2 laboratory, we will be able to detect such diseases early," he added.