Workshop in Darjeeling focuses on tracking zoonotic disease hotspots

Darjeeling: Over 60 per cent of emerging diseases worldwide are zoonotic, with nearly 75 per cent originating in wildlife over the past three decades. In regions like South and Southeast Asia—particularly India—dense human populations, rich biodiversity and limited public health and veterinary infrastructure make the risk of disease spillover especially high.

Against this backdrop, a one-day workshop based on a study, “Protecting Himalayan Health: Landscape-Based Disease Surveillance in Wildlife and Exploring Zoonotic Hotspots through One Health Approach” was organised in Darjeeling to address the growing threat of zoonotic diseases—those transmitted from animals to humans.

The study aligns with the “One Health” framework, which integrates human, animal and environmental health to enhance preparedness against future outbreaks.

“This study is under the National Mission for Himalayas under the Government of India.

The project started in April 2025 and will continue till 2028. The main objective of the study is disease surveillance, mainly zoonotic transfer of disease between animals and humans under One Health approach,” stated Sukalpo Kundu, Junior Research Fellow, Zoological Survey of India (ZSI). Experts at the workshop stated that wildlife often serves as a natural reservoir of pathogens, with vectors like mosquitoes, mites and ticks aiding transmission across species.

The Himalayan region, they observed, is particularly vulnerable due to increasing human-wildlife interactions and inadequate disease monitoring in remote areas.

The initiative adopts a metagenomic approach, using blood-fed ectoparasites such as mosquitoes, ticks, and mites to trace bloodborne pathogens in wildlife across the Central and Eastern Himalayas.

Project objectives include diagnosing bloodborne pathogens in wildlife, assessing zoonotic potential in local communities and livestock, mapping disease hotspots and developing rapid RT-PCR-based diagnostic assays. “The programme aims to screen wildlife (faecal matter, parasites) livestock, pets and humans and generate novel DNA barcodes and digital sequence data, establish field manuals for pathogen detection, and identify high-risk zones. We are using state of the art next generation sequencing for this to identify if any new disease is emerging,” added Kundu.

The studies are being conducted in Darjeeling in Bengal; Tawang and West Kameng in Arunachal Pradesh.

“We are identifying zoonotic diseases in the HImalayan eco-system to ensure timely intervention. Along with this the stress is on capacity building in the project sites to ensure early preparedness” added Mukesh Thakur, Scientist D, ZSI, who is the principal investigator in this project.

Already 300 animal samples have been collected along with samples from 100 ectoparasites to screen for 14 different pathogens and diseases.