Pune zoo staff to help spot animal-to-human diseases early under One Health surveillance project

Pune, November 7, 2026: Staff at Pune's Rajiv Gandhi Zoological Park who handle animals, clean enclosures and collect clinical samples can now play a key role in catching diseases before they pass from animals to humans.

A new surveillance initiative launched under the National One Health Mission puts zoo employees, animal caretakers and veterinary staff at its centre. Its aim is to detect zoonotic infections, meaning diseases that spread from animals to humans, at an early stage.

The project is titled "Establishing a One Health Sentinel Surveillance System in High Human-Animal-Interaction Settings among Selected Zoos in India". Its goals are to keep a systematic record of infections in zoo animals, assess the occupational health risks to staff, and pick up early signs of pathogens crossing from one species to another.

The initiative is a collaboration of four parties: the National Institute of Virology (NIV), Pune, of the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR); the National Institute of One Health, Nagpur; Bharati Vidyapeeth; and the Pune zoo.

Zoo staff are considered to be at particular risk because they are often in contact with wild animals, their waste and clinical samples. The surveillance system will generate data on infections in animals and will also track the possible risks to people who work close to them.

The Centre has listed several zoonotic diseases, including anthrax, rabies, Nipah, leptospirosis, mpox and Zika, among the priority threats that must be monitored.