MUMBAI: The Guillain-Barré Syndrome (GBS) outbreak in Pune, which has affected 140 people, with 18 requiring ventilator support, could have been controlled within four days if proper public health measures had been taken, according to Dr. T Jacob John, a leading virologist and former professor at Christian Medical College in Vellore. Dr. John, who has spent decades monitoring outbreaks and infectious diseases in India, said health officials failed to prevent the situation from spiraling out of control.
“As soon as the first case was detected, it should have been reported to local health officials, who would then alert hospitals for further investigation,” Dr. John told TOI. The next critical step would have been confirming whether Campylobacter jejuni, a bacterium often linked to GBS outbreaks, was the cause. This process typically takes 48 hours.
By day two, Dr. John emphasized, health officials should have tested the water for E. coli and checked its potability. They should have also issued an alert warning the public about possible contamination and advising them to boil the water before drinking it.
On day three, if the contamination was confirmed, he said the municipal corporation should have started a hyperchlorination process to disinfect the water and identify which parts of the supply were affected.
By day four, with GBS cases increasing across different hospitals, health officials should have created a spot map, declared the outbreak, and informed the public that the water supply had been disinfected.
Dr. John noted that once these measures were in place, the outbreak likely would have subsided. “This is how it works in developed countries. Now the question is whether India has this protocol in place—this is what a robust public health system looks like.”
A former disease surveillance officer explained that while India’s surveillance systems are well-established, they need to be refined to address challenges posed by rapidly growing urban populations. In this case, he said, the health department took necessary early steps, but factors beyond its control, such as water quality, complicated the situation. He added that GBS is not an infectious disease itself but a condition triggered by infectious agents, making the outbreak particularly complex.
