(In the weekly Health Matters newsletter, Ramya Kannan writes about getting to good health, and staying there. You can subscribe here to get the newsletter in your inbox.)
Yet again, our attention has been yanked forcefully towards infectious diseases. At periodic intervals, diseases caused by pathogens, because of something that went wrong in the system, grow much larger than they are meant to. They take the form of outbreaks, epidemics, even pandemics, if we don’t get there on time. These past weeks, the new year cheer was dulled with news of the Indore diarrhoea epidemic, where severe water contamination was identified to be source of the outbreak, and this week, it is Nipah, with a fresh rash of cases in West Bengal.
At West Bengal, though, it is just beginning to emerge into public consciousness. Two healthcare workers suspected of being infected by the Nipah virus in Barasat city in North 24 Parganas district of West Bengal are undergoing treatment, officials said on January 12, 2026. The cases were detected at the All India Institute of Medical Sciences-Kalyani in West Bengal’s Nadia district on the night of January 11 night, reports Shrabana Chatterjee. “Patients are under treatment and observation. Contact-tracing and treatment plans have already been made,” West Bengal Chief Secretary Nandini Chakraborty said. Both patients are employed at the hospital they are being treated in. Officials have not yet disclosed the name of the facility.
State government officials said the two patients had travelled to Purba Bardhaman on personal work. Contact-tracing is therefore being done across North 24 Parganas, Purba Bardhaman, and Nadia districts. Officials also said the patients had not travelled outside West Bengal in the recent past and that authorities are in touch with their families. Meanwhile, the Union Health Ministry said a national joint outbreak response team has been deployed to support the State government in containment and public health response measures. Given the serious nature of Nipah virus infection, which is a zoonotic disease with high mortality and potential for rapid spread, the situation is being handled with utmost priority, a senior Health Ministry official said.
In Indore, contaminated drinking water, supplied through government-laid pipelines, led to a diarrhoea outbreak killing at least 8 and affecting about 3,000 people. Mehul Malpani reports that these areas were the unplanned parts of one of Madhya Pradesh’s most promising cities, where the effects of delays in laying pipelines, were disastrous. Do read his long form story, here.
Another follow up report by him can be read here: Diarrhoea outbreak dents Indore’s image, M.P. HC calls State response ‘insensitive’. Zubeda Hamid in the In Focus podcast on the Indore deaths asks the question: What ails the water supply systems in India? Meanwhile, typhoid’s on the loose in Gandhinagar, Gujarat and the NHRC issued a notice to the Gujarat government over this.
While the origins of COVID remain unclear, it is clear that climate is driving new viral threats, top scientist Soumya Swaminathan said recently. Climate change is indeed influencing viral mutations, she said citing the H1N1 influenza virus, whose cases have increasingly jumped from birds to mammals, with occasional human infections. The number of such spillover events is rising in the United States, and as the virus continues to mutate, the likelihood of human infections — and potential pandemics — increases, she added.
Meanwhile an old, old disease has seen a resurgence too. The Hindu’s Kerala bureau reported that Leprosy cases are on the rise in Kasaragod with 32 people under treatment. Kerala has an exemplary surveillance system, and is among the first steps to notice and report trends in infectious diseases. Perhaps it is time that the rest of the States also examine the situation in their own areas.
Even as we fight the pathogens, it is important to take action to understand the true position with regard to antimicrobial resistance in India. While PM Modi’s Mann Ki Baat turned much-needed attention on the problem of misuse and overuse of antibiotics leading to high rates of AMR, it remains to be seen whether the surveillance of AMR in the community will be enhanced, including more laboratories and private hospitals into the network. We need to fine-tune this signal to sharpen India’s AMR battle, I argue. Again, a leader in this segment, Kerala has issued guidelines for antibiotic-smart certification of hospitals. The State government has formulated an innovative accreditation system for certifying health-care institutions and community as ‘Antibiotic-Smart’ and ‘Antibiotic-Literate.’
In this article, Dr. Parth Sharma brings into account a very key issue: how privatisation and policy gaps threaten India’s public health system. Privatisation further compounds the chronic underfunding that has hit the public health care system. With private equity increasingly driving India’s private healthcare industry, doctors are now expected to meet monthly targets, much like in any profit-driven sector. Through schemes such as AB PMJAY and rampant public-private partnerships, public money is increasingly shunted to the private sector, further weakening the public health system, he says.
Bindu Shajan Perappadan reported that the Central drug regulator released guidelines to compound minor drug violations. The body claimed that this will aid business compliance, exempting pharma firms from appearing in court in case of “certain minor contraventions”; instead, they will have to pay a fine and take “self-corrective actions”. Do read The Hindu’s edit on the subject which says this change could be for the better if the regulatory apparatus implements it in good faith. For offences based on record keeping and disclosure, compounding prevents needless criminalisation and lets enforcement focus on direr violations. However, the main pitfalls are the guidelines regressing into a ‘pay and pass’ scheme and the CDSCO’s transparency.
On to the subject of non-communicable diseases, and what the world has been obsessing over: the wonder weight loss drugs. Less than two years after stopping obesity drugs, weight and health issues return, a recent study found.
Reviewing data on 9,341 obese or overweight patients treated in 37 studies with any of 18 different weight-loss medications, researchers found they regained on average nearly one pound (0.4 kg) per month after stopping the drugs, and were projected to return to pre-treatment weight by 1.7 years. Heart health risk factors, such as blood pressure and cholesterol levels, that benefited from the drugs were projected to return to pre-treatment levels within 1.4 years after stopping the medications, on average, according to a report of the study published in The BMJ.
Staying on the subject of obesity, a new study found that the waist-to-height ratio is better than BMI at detecting obesity risk in older adults. We have been debating the best way to measure obesity and its risks, in these columns, so this study strikes a strong note. Unlike BMI, which does not distinguish between fat and muscle mass, the waist-to-height ratio better reflects visceral fat — fat stored around the abdomen that has a greater impact on vital organs and overall health.
Given that obesity is a risk factor for diabetes, and India faces the second-highest economic burden due to diabetes, it is crucial for policymakers and doctors in India to focus on addressing diabetes and launching massive prevention schemes.
Athira Elssa Johnson has an interesting story on why childhood hypertension is emerging as a paediatric health challenge; clearly this issue needs greater investigation, even as lifestyle modifications are initiated. Talking of lifestyle modifications, Preeti Zachariah decodes the great Indian protein spin in this article.
Rahul Karmakar reports on a new Study from Assam that found distinct blood markers for early detection of gallbladder cancer. The Tezpur University-led study found chemical signatures that could help diagnose one of India’s deadliest cancers early; gallbladder cancer is a leading cause of death in these regions, particularly in the north east of India, affecting females twice as much as males. Ananya Ganapathy examines if AI can be used to detect breast cancer in a safe and non-invasive manner.
This week’s tail piece is an interesting look at how illness is more than just biological. Jennifer Singh, in The Conversation writes that medical sociology shows how social factors get under the skin and cause disease. Improving people’s health and well-being therefore requires improving education, employment, housing, transportation and other social, economic and political policies.
Our very robust list of explainers includes articles on a range of subjects:
All you need to know about hepatitis A is right here
Dr. N. Sankararaman Combating respiratory problems this winter: a quick guide to home remedies that work
Cold wave heightens risk of infections, affects patients with hypertension, heart ailments, caution doctors
Rashi Kapoor spotlights sarcoma, a cancer that is talked about too little
N. Thulasi Ram Rehabilitation matters: the role of early physiotherapy in reducing long-term disability
Vitamin B12 deficiency is more than just a nutrition problem
In the Nobel Prize for Medicine series, we discuss Emil Theodor Kocher and the scientific understanding of the thyroid gland
Neha Sinha explains why dementia care should be a part of medical and psychology curricula
Watch this video to find out everything about U.S. and Australia’s alert on fake anti-rabies vaccine in India
If you have a few extra moments, also read:
Serena Josephine M. Poor logistics, lack of protocol during VIP convoy duties leave T.N. government doctors in the lurch
Health Quiz: On winter infections
Study links weaker internal body clock with higher dementia risk
OpenAI launches ChatGPT Health to connect medical records, wellness apps
Forcing woman to continue pregnancy violates bodily integrity: Delhi HC
Don’t submit separate proposals for recognition of MBBS seats; annual renewal of seats enough, NMC tells medical colleges
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