New Delhi: Twenty monkey monkey crowd, which was used during the Covaxin trial, was found near Nagpur after they moved deep in Maharashtra forests lost their usual urban food sources because of the Covid Kuncian in 2020, a new book said.
In “Going Viral: Making of Covaxin – The Inside Story”, Director General of the Indian Medical Research Council (ICMR) Dr.
Balram Bhargava talked about the Indian Homegrown Vaccine trip.
The book also touched the ins and outs of science and challenges faced by Indian scientists during the fight against Covid-19, from the development of strong laboratory networks, diagnosis, care and serosurvin for new technology and vaccines.
Bhargava said that it was important to remember that the heroes of the success story of Covaxin were not only humans because of 20 monkeys “were partly responsible for the fact that our millions now have access to the lives of saving vaccines”.
“Once we know that vaccines can produce antibodies in small animals, the next logical step is to test it in larger animals such as monkeys, comparable to humans in terms of their body structure and the immune system,” he wrote in the book, “he wrote in the book That, published by the form.
Monkey Rhesus Macaque, which is used throughout the world in medical research, is believed to be the best non-human primate for the study.
The Laboratory of the ICMR-National Institute of Virology Level 4, the only advanced facility in India for primates , once again take the challenge of carrying out this critical research, said Bhargava.
But there are obstacles: where to get monkeys from the US India does not have the Rhesus ape who is bred in the laboratory? Researcher of the Institute of Virology (NIV) National contact many zoos and institutionalize throughout India To find some without luck.
“Just to make everything more difficult, They need young monkeys with good immune responses, because some aging monkeys in NIV are not suitable, “said Bhargava.
“A special team of ICMR-NIV goes to Maharashtra regions to identify sites for animal arrests.
So, loss of their usual urban food sources because of the kuncian, it has been far into the forest.
The Maharashtra Forest Department helps track them, scan several square kilometers Forest for days to track monkeys, before finally finding them near Nagpur, “he wrote.
He, however, added that protecting experimental animals from SARS-COV-2 before starting a preclinical study was another challenge.
“When animals can be infected with humans, all caregivers, veterinarians, and other cleaning staff are played for SARS-COV-2, and must take a strict prevention protocol,” he said.
Doing large animal experiments in the NIV high security detention facility are the next challenge.
“To start, this is necessary to develop critical infrastructure (bronchoscopes, x-rays, housing suitable for monkeys), train teams, develop protocols, standard procedures such as bronchoscopy in apes and do necropsy,” he wrote.
“There was a lot of balls in the air and we were unable to drop it.
We must plan very carefully.
It was tiring and difficult to do this experiment in a positive pressure suit, in the detention facility for 10.
-12 hours without food and water,” he said After research.
“In the end, everything fell into place.
The monkey business has been completed, and the participants from the two species that allow it deserve more praise than we can give them,” he said.