Knowledge Nugget: Delhi to declare rabies a ‘notifiable disease’— What you must know for the UPSC Exam

Key Takeaways:

1. Officials said declaring human rabies a notifiable disease is a key component of the plan to achieve zero human deaths from dog-mediated rabies. 

“Rabies is a preventable disease, and no death due to rabies is acceptable. Declaring human rabies as a notifiable disease will strengthen surveillance, improve early detection, and ensure timely treatment,” Delhi Health Minister Pankaj Kumar Singh said. 

2. The move, officials said, would help authorities track disease trends, improve coordination between human and animal health systems, and enable targeted interventions in high-risk areas.

3. The Epidemic Diseases Act, 1897, provides the framework, with the Integrated Disease Surveillance Programme (IDSP) managing data collection and response, enabling early intervention and resource allocation. So far, 20 states have declared human rabies a notifiable disease, as per the official website of the Ministry of Health & Family Welfare’s National Rabies Control Program.

4. In Delhi, once the notification is issued in this regard, all government and private healthcare facilities, including medical colleges and individual practitioners, will be required to report suspected, probable and confirmed cases of human rabies to the designated health authorities. The notification will come into effect immediately after issuance and remain applicable until further orders.

What is a notifiable disease?

1. A notifiable disease in India is any disease, often infectious like dengue, tuberculosis, or COVID-19, that healthcare providers are legally required to report to public health authorities for monitoring, outbreak prevention, and control. 

2. Usually, infections that are likely to cause an outbreak, lead to deaths, and those that need to be investigated quickly to take appropriate public health measures, are declared as notifiable diseases.

3. While the list of notifiable diseases differs from state to state — state governments are  responsible for bringing out the notification. 

Why is rabies a matter of concern?

1. The rabies virus — transmitted through the saliva of infected animals — enters the peripheral nervous system and migrates to the central nervous system (spinal cord and brain).

2. The infected person exhibits behavioural changes and clinical signs when the virus reaches the brain. Clinical signs typically appear three months after a person has been infected. In exceptional cases, clinical signs can develop after a few days, or after more than six months, following an exposure.

3. It leads to a plethora of symptoms, ranging from common ones such as fever, headache, nausea, vomitting to typical ones such as excessive salivation, fear of drinking water, hallucinations and partial paralysis.

4. While it is almost always fatal after one develops the symptoms, it can be prevented by a post-exposure vaccination. This is the reason people need to take rabies shots when they are bitten, scratched, or salivated on open wounds by animals such as dogs, cats, monkeys, and bats.

BEYOND THE NUGGET: Epidemic Diseases Act, 1897

1. The colonial government introduced the Act to tackle the epidemic of bubonic plague that had spread in the erstwhile Bombay Presidency in the 1890s. Using powers conferred by the Act, colonies authorities would search suspected plague cases in homes and among passengers, with forcible segregations, evacuations, and demolitions of infected places.

2. The Act, which consists of four sections, aims to provide “for the better prevention of the spread of Dangerous Epidemic Diseases.”

3. Notably, the World Health Organization defines epidemics as “the occurrence in a community or region of cases of an illness, specific health-related behaviour, or other health-related events clearly in excess of normal expectancy. The community or region and the period in which the cases occur are specified precisely. The number of cases indicating the presence of an epidemic varies according to the agent, size, and type of population exposed, previous experience or lack of exposure to the disease, and time and place of occurrence.” Epidemics are characterised by the rapid spread of the specific disease across a large number of people within a short period of time.

Post Read Question

With reference to notifiable diseases in India, consider the following statements:

1. Notifiable diseases are those which healthcare providers are legally required to report to public health authorities.

2. The primary objective of notifying such diseases is outbreak prevention and control.

Which of the statements given above is/are correct?

(a) 1 only

(b) 2 only

(c) Both 1 and 2 

(d) Neither 1 nor 2

(Sources: Delhi to declare rabies a ‘notifiable disease’: What does this mean, why it matters)

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