Guj wasted 3 weeks sending samples to Pune

The Gujarat government appears to have wasted more than three weeks in identifying the pathogen responsible for the recent outbreak of acute encephalitis, which tragically killed almost half of the infected children. The government still has no idea what caused the deaths of the majority of these children, other than the fact that the symptoms and cause of death were related to encephalitis.
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On Thursday, the government decided to change course and start sending patient samples to the Gujarat Biotechnology Research Centre (GBRC), the state-run Biosafety Level 2+ (BSL-2+) laboratory in Gandhinagar. This is the second change in the testing policy in three days.

Since the second child showing symptoms of what is suspected to be an outbreak of Chandipura Vesiculovirus (CHPV) was admitted to GMERS Himmatnagar MCH in Sabarkantha, Gujarat, all blood and cerebrospinal fluid samples were sent to the BSL-4 lab at the National Institute of Virology (NIV) in Pune, Maharashtra.

Wasted time
Despite sending 29 samples to NIV in the past three weeks, the state has received results of only the first seven patients. Of these, only one, a 4-year-old from Aravalli, has been confirmed to be infected with CHPV. The other six tested negative not only for Chandipura but also for Japanese encephalitis, enteroviruses, flaviviruses and herpes simplex virus (HSV). This means that out of the official count of 33 cases and 16 deaths till July 18, the state has been able to confirm only one case due to CHPV, while the rest of the deaths remain in limbo.

Late realization
Remarkably, it took three weeks for the government to realize that the results of samples that were simply negative for a few viruses, but not the actual cause of the viral encephalitis afflicting the children, were useless. So on July 16, the state began sending four sets of biological samples instead of two. These included the previously sent blood and CSF samples, along with the addition of urine and throat swabs, in the hope that a wider range of tests would shed more light on the situation.
However, this new policy was short-lived as the state changed course again on July 18. Eventually, it was recalled that GBRC in Gandhinagar can not only process DNA samples from patients suspected of having the Chandipura virus, but also has the distinction of being the first lab in India to decode the complete genome sequence of the coronavirus.
According to sources, the samples will now be sent to GBRC, where next-generation sequencing will be done to not only identify the Chandipura virus but also determine the exact cause of death of the affected children.