Summary:
As per the directives of the USAID programme, the plan of action was to begin with the Western Ghats and North East. Two species of free living animals — bats and rodents — which were at that time being studied globally for the presence of zoonotic diseases were identified for the research,” said the octogenarian researcher. We had to identify institutes at the state and national level for the collaborative research for all the investigative purposes. The National Institute of Virology (NIV), Pune, which already has a national project on disease surveillance was on top of the list. Even to collect samples, we needed to obtain permissions from various government agencies..