The Department of Veterinary Public Health and Epidemiology was a constituent of the erstwhile Department of Veterinary Microbiology and Public Health in the College of Veterinary Sciences. In 1994, the Department of Veterinary Public Health came into its independent existence. Now the name of the department has been changed as Veterinary Public Health and Epidemiology after the merger of Epidemiology component of “Epidemiology and Preventive Medicine”. The activities of the Department are supported by competent faculty presently consisting of a Professor and two Assistant Professors. The main areas of academic activity of the department relate to teaching, research and extension. The undergraduate teaching programme (towards B.V.Sc. & A.H. degree) comprises of domains viz., Milk and Meat Hygiene, Food safety and Public Health, Veterinary Epidemiology, Zoonoses along with Environment and Environmental Hygiene. The postgraduate programmes have also been designed to offer M.V.Sc. and Ph. D. degree in Veterinary Public Health and Epidemiology.

Since inception, the department has been actively engaged in research on microbial toxicology, sanitary quality of water, milk and meat, and sero-diagnosis of zoonotic infections. Pioneering work has been done in the areas of meat speciation, characterization of Salmonella and Escherichia coli, elucidation of the mechanism of microbial drug resistance and analysis of pesticide and drug residues in foods of animal origin.

The department is also actively engaged in various community welfare programmes. It provides expertise towards meat inspection, water quality evaluation, education of rural women on public health aspect and training of slaughterhouse personnel in hygienic meat production. Educational materials are prepared and published in magazines and Journals with especial orientation towards farmers and rural masses. The department is engaged in contributing to the welfare of human communities through education and research in the ever-growing field of Veterinary Public Health.

Externally Funded Research Projects

Salient Other Research Findings

1. Salmonellosis

1. A total of 12,210 samples were screened for Salmonella belonging to poultry, domestic animals, humans and environment collected from various locations of Uttarakhand and Uttar Pradesh. Of which 495 samples were identified as positive revealing an overall prevalence of 4.05%.


2. Serotyping of these isolates recognized them as S. Typhimurium (43.95%), S. Enteritidis (24.84%), S. Kentucky (16.99%), S. Virchow (3.92%), S. Infantis (2.94%), S. Pullorum (1.31%) and S. Weltevreden (0.65%).


3. Among various locations, the highest was found in Lalkuan (19.75%) followed by Pantnagar (15.6%), Rudrapur (10.87%), Haldwani (2.13%) and Kiccha (0.88%).


4. Among host species, the occurrences in various species of animals were in the following order: Poultry (4.34%), Cattle (2.69%), Human (3.98%), Goat (2.21%) and Pig (1.69%).


5. In poultry we recorded the highest prevalence in layers (5.72%), followed by growers (4.28%) and broilers (4.17%).


6. In case of cattle, the prevalence recorded was highest in the adults (3.58%), followed by calves (3.30%) and least in young (1.91%).


7. Among the human population, young individuals (4.69%) exhibited higher prevalence than adults (3.55%).


8. Goats showed higher prevalence in adults (2.6%) as compare to kids (1.98%).


9. However, in pigs the occurrence in feces was recorded to be 1.31% and 1.83% in case of piglets and adult pigs respectively, while in pork it was 5.78%.


10. Of all the various kinds of samples screened so far, the average occurrence of Salmonella documented in various sample types is as follows: knife swabs (16.06%), utensils (14.46%), rinsing water (11.78%), drinking water (14.96%) cutting surface swabs (12.5%), chicken meat swabs (12.39%), chicken meat (19.69%), chopping board swabs (7.50%), poultry caeca (4%), poultry feces (7.10%), poultry litter (14.17%), poultry feed (9.68%), manure samples (3.03%), buffalo intestine (3.33%) and carabeef (1.25%).

2. Campylobacteriosis

1. A total of 10,966 poultry and environment samples were collected from various locations of Uttarakhand, Uttar Pradesh and other part of India for isolation of campylobacters. On the basis of biochemical and molecular analysis, 814 samples were recognized as positive for campylobactersrecording the prevalence as 7.42%. Two thermophilic campylobacters namely, C.jejuni(60%) and C. coli (40%)were identified among them.


2. None of the samples exhibited the presence of C. lariand C. upsaliensis.


3. The location wise prevalence in the poultry samples obtained from Pantnagar, Haldwani, Bareilly and other part of India were 12.05%, 7.76%, 7.32% and 3.64% respectively.


4. Of the samples,the occurrence was as follows: chicken meat (8.57%,), chevon (7.6%), pork(0.78%), fish meat (0.04%), carabeef (1.36%) andpoultry caeca (11.57%).


5. Among excreta the Campylobacter was positive in poultry droppings (6.56%), cattle faeces (4.92%), calves faeces (5%), humans’ stools (2.76%) and pigs’ faeces (2.69%).


6. Age wise occurrence of campylobacters was studied only in humans who recorded higher occurrence (9.76%) in young age groups(0-15 years) than in adults (3.13%).

3. Yersiniosis

1. Yesinia enterocolitica is serology important in the epidemiology of Yersiniosis.


2. Screening for virulence needs to be carried with the help of multiple tests.


3. Enterotoxin (ST-type) of Yersinia enterocolitica was partially characterized.

4. Brucellosis

1. Prevalence showed increasing trends towards the last 3 decades.


2. Organize farms were found to be more affected than rural areas.


3. Rose Bengal Test and ELISA found efficient for screening of serum samples.


4. Female animals showed higher prevalence.


5. Brucella cell membrane proteins are being exploited for vaccine development.

Dairy Microbes

1. A total of one hundred forty one (141) samples were collected, processed and microorganisms were isolated as well as identified.


2. Samples were collected from all part of Uttarakhand.


3. Fifty eight out of these samples revealed different Lactobacillus species.


4. Eleven Lactobacillus species were identified. They are as follows: 1. Lactobacillus plantarum (26) Lactobacillus crispatus(2) Lactobacillus brevis (8) Lactobacillus fermentum (4) Lactobacillus raffinoactis (4) Lactococus lactis subsp. Lactis (8) Lactobacillus pentosus (7) Lactobacillus acidophilus (2) Lactobacillus salivariusLeuconostoclactis(1) and Lactobacillus rhamnosus (2).