National Centre for Disease Control (NCDC) (previously known as National Institute of Communicable Diseases

National Institute of Communicable Diseases

The National Institute of Communicable Diseases is situated in New Delhi.It was established on 30 July 1963, by Government of India to expand and reorganize the activities of the Malaria Institute of India...

) is an institute under the Indian Directorate General of Health Services, Ministry of Health and Family Welfare

Ministry of Health and Family Welfare

The Ministry of Health and Family Welfare is the Indian government ministry charged with health policy in India. It is also responsible for all government programs relating to family planning in India....

. It was established in July 1963 for research in epidemiology

Epidemiology

Epidemiology is the study of health-event, health-characteristic, or health-determinant patterns in a population. It is the cornerstone method of public health research, and helps inform policy decisions and evidence-based medicine by identifying risk factors for disease and targets for preventive...

 and control of communicable diseases. Currently it has eight branches at Alwar, Bangalore

Bangalore

Bengaluru , formerly called Bengaluru is the capital of the Indian state of Karnataka. Bangalore is nicknamed the Garden City and was once called a pensioner's paradise. Located on the Deccan Plateau in the south-eastern part of Karnataka, Bangalore is India's third most populous city and...

, Trivandrum, Calicut, Coonoor

Coonoor

Coonoor is a town and a municipality in the Nilgiris district in the state of Tamil Nadu, India. It is known for its production of Nilgiri tea....

, Jagdalpur

Jagdalpur

Jagdalpur is a city and a municipality in Bastar district in the Indian state of Chhattisgarh. It is the administrative headquarters of Bastar District and Bastar Division, and was the capital of the erstwhile princely state of Bastar. Jagdalpur and its surrounding area comprise a major part of the...

, Patna

Patna

Paṭnā , is the capital of the Indian state of Bihar and the second largest city in Eastern India . Patna is one of the oldest continuously inhabited places in the world...

, Rajahmundry

Rajahmundry

Rajahmundry is a city and municipal corporation of the Andhra Pradesh state in India. It is located east of the state capital, Hyderabad, on the banks of the River Godavari. Known as the Cultural Capital, Rajahmundry is noted for its intense Veda culture and intellect...

 and Varanasi

Varanasi

-Etymology:The name Varanasi has its origin possibly from the names of the two rivers Varuna and Assi, for the old city lies in the north shores of the Ganga bounded by its two tributaries, the Varuna and the Asi, with the Ganges being to its south...

 to advise the respective state governments on public health

Public health

Public health is "the science and art of preventing disease, prolonging life and promoting health through the organized efforts and informed choices of society, organizations, public and private, communities and individuals" . It is concerned with threats to health based on population health...

.

History

The origin of NICD can be traced back to Central Malaria Bureau, which was established at Kasauli

Kasauli

Kasauli is a cantonment and town, located in Solan district in the Indian state of Himachal Pradesh. The cantonment was established by the British Raj in 1842 as a Colonial hill station, from Shimla, from Chandigarh, and from Panchkula, and lies at a height of .-Demographics:According to the...

, Himachal Pradesh

Himachal Pradesh

Himachal Pradesh is a state in Northern India. It is spread over , and is bordered by the Indian states of Jammu and Kashmir on the north, Punjab on the west and south-west, Haryana and Uttar Pradesh on the south, Uttarakhand on the south-east and by the Tibet Autonomous Region on the east...

, India

India

India , officially the Republic of India , is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by geographical area, the second-most populous country with over 1.2 billion people, and the most populous democracy in the world...

 in 1909. It was renamed as the Malaria Institute of India in 1938 and in 1963 renamed as the NICD. On 30 July 2009, it was named as National Centre for Disease Control.

Divisions

NICD has eight divisions under it namely

• Epidemiology
  Epidemiology
  Epidemiology is the study of health-event, health-characteristic, or health-determinant patterns in a population. It is the cornerstone method of public health research, and helps inform policy decisions and evidence-based medicine by identifying risk factors for disease and targets for preventive...
  
   division
• Training and malariology division
• Helminthology
  Helminthology
  Helminthology is the study of worms, especially parasitic worms. This field deals with the study of their taxonomy and the effect on their hosts....
  
   division
• Biochemistry
  Biochemistry
  Biochemistry, sometimes called biological chemistry, is the study of chemical processes in living organisms, including, but not limited to, living matter. Biochemistry governs all living organisms and living processes...
  
   and Biotechnology
  Biotechnology
  Biotechnology is a field of applied biology that involves the use of living organisms and bioprocesses in engineering, technology, medicine and other fields requiring bioproducts. Biotechnology also utilizes these products for manufacturing purpose...
  
   division
• Microbiology
  Microbiology
  Microbiology is the study of microorganisms, which are defined as any microscopic organism that comprises either a single cell , cell clusters or no cell at all . This includes eukaryotes, such as fungi and protists, and prokaryotes...
  
   division
• Medical Entomology
  Entomology
  Entomology is the scientific study of insects, a branch of arthropodology...
  
   and vector control
  Vector control
  Vector control is any method to limit or eradicate the mammals, birds, insects or other arthropods which transmit disease pathogens. The most frequent type of vector control is mosquito control using a variety of strategies.-Methods of Control:...
  
   division
• Zoonosis
  Zoonosis
  A zoonosis or zoonoseis any infectious disease that can be transmitted from non-human animals to humans or from humans to non-human animals . In a study of 1415 pathogens known to affect humans, 61% were zoonotic...
  
   division
• AIDS
  AIDS
  Acquired immune deficiency syndrome or acquired immunodeficiency syndrome is a disease of the human immune system caused by the human immunodeficiency virus...
  
   division

Activities

Doctors from NICD had been previously summoned to investigate potential outbreaks of diseases including suspected cases of Pneumonic plague

Pneumonic plague

Pneumonic plague, a severe type of lung infection, is one of three main forms of plague, all of which are caused by the bacterium Yersinia pestis. It is more virulent and rare than bubonic plague...

 in Punjab

Punjab (India)

Punjab ) is a state in the northwest of the Republic of India, forming part of the larger Punjab region. The state is bordered by the Indian states of Himachal Pradesh to the east, Haryana to the south and southeast and Rajasthan to the southwest as well as the Pakistani province of Punjab to the...

 in 2002, SARS oubreaks in 2004, meningitis

Meningitis

Meningitis is inflammation of the protective membranes covering the brain and spinal cord, known collectively as the meninges. The inflammation may be caused by infection with viruses, bacteria, or other microorganisms, and less commonly by certain drugs...

 outbreak in Delhi

Delhi

Delhi , officially National Capital Territory of Delhi , is the largest metropolis by area and the second-largest by population in India, next to Mumbai. It is the eighth largest metropolis in the world by population with 16,753,265 inhabitants in the Territory at the 2011 Census...

 in 2005, and avian influenza in 2006.