Medical Microbiology in India: The Recent Developments in the Basic Research, Diagnostics and Vaccines

Abstract

Medical microbiology being the largest subset under microbiology brings out the benefits of the research in the field of
microbiology for the welfare of the masses through applied medical science. Researchers around the globe are working
tirelessly in this field in order to prevent, diagnose and treat infectious diseases well in time. India being a tropical country
with poor socio-economic conditions and slack healthcare schemes has wide range and burden of the infectious diseases.
This has led to the researchers here to take up the challenging tasks of medical microbiology research, they are actively
working and the present article reviews the exemplary contribution of these researchers from India in the last decade. This
enlists the basic research carried to assess the infections caused by Rotavirus, Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV),
Pathogenic Vibrios, Mycobacterium tuberculosis, M. leprae, Salmonella enterica servovar typhi, Helicobacter pylori, Yersinia
enterocolitica, Leptospires, Leishmania, Plasmodium falciparum, P. vivax, Wuchereria bancrofti, Entamoeba histolytica
and some other pathogens. The knowledge gathered through the basic research has been applied for the development of
certain vaccines and diagnostic tools and/or techniques to tackle infectious diseases. Notably, Mycobacterium Indicus Prani
vaccine (against certain Mycobacterial infections), Rotavac (against rotavirus), JENVAC (against Japanese encephalitis),
recombinant vaccine DENVs (against dengue virus) etc. have been developed by Indian research groups and have found
wide application. The present article briefly reviews such breakthrough developments in the field of applied microbiology
along with a concise account of the infectious diseases outbreaks that resulted from inadequate containments of the vectors.