A recent study conducted by the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) to identify viral infections of public health significance found that one in nine tested positive for infectious diseases. According to the study, among 4.5 lakh patients it tested, pathogens were found in 11.1 per cent of them.
The study was conducted by a network of labs under ICMR. The top five pathogens detected were Influenza A in acute respiratory infection (ARI)/ severe acute respiratory infections (SARI cases), dengue virus among acute fever and haemorrhagic fever cases, Hepatitis A in jaundice cases, Norovirus among acute diarrheal disease (ADD) outbreaks and Herpes simplex virus (HSV) in Acute Encephalitis Syndrome (AES) cases.
According to the ICMR report, there has been 0.8 per cent increase in the spread of infectious diseases. "The spread of infectious diseases rose from 10.7 per cent in the first quarter to 11.5 per cent in the second quarter of 2025," it said.
The Virus Research and Diagnostic Laboratories (VRDL) under ICMR studied samples collected between January and March, and from April to June, to analyse the prevalence of infectious diseases. According to the report, from January to March, out of 2,28,856 samples it studied, 24,502 (10.7 per cent) were found to contain pathogens. "From April to June 2025, 26,055 (11.5 per cent) out of 2,26,095 samples tested positive. Thus, the infection rate rose by 0.8 percentage points over the previous quarter, signalling the need for stronger monitoring of infection trends," it said.
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A senior scientist told PTI that though the increase may not appear large, "it should not be underestimated". "It could serve as a warning for seasonal diseases and emerging infections," the scientist added.
If we continue tracking quarterly changes in infection rates, future epidemics could be prevented in time. The VRDL network acts as an early warning system for the country.
The ICMR report also found that among the 191 disease clusters it investigated between April and June, infectious diseases such as mumps, measles, rubella, dengue, chikungunya, rotavirus, norovirus, varicella zoster virus, Epstein-Barr virus (EBV) and astrovirus were identified. The ICMR has tested over 40 lakh samples between 2014 and 2024, and pathogens were identified in 18.8 per cent.
