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P. K. Rajagopalan

Summary

Pylore Krishnaier Rajagopalan is an Indian vector control scientist, biologist and acarologist, known for his pioneering contributions to the control programmes against vector-borne diseases in India.[1] He is a former director of the Indian Council of Medical Research managed Vector Control Research Centre, Pondicherry.[2][3] He graduated in 1949 from the Banaras Hindu University and obtained a Masters in Zoology with University First Rank there itself in 1951.[4] In 1952 he joined the fledgling Virus Research Centre in Pune, and worked under the supervision of some of the finest vector control specialists such as Dr T Ramachandra Rao.[5] In recognition of his outstanding work as a young research scientist, in 1957 he was awarded a Fellowship by the Rockefeller Foundation to pursue a Master's program in Public Health from the University of California.[6] He went on to secure a Diploma in Acarology from the University of Maryland at College Park.[7]

P. K. Rajagopalan
Born
Mukteshwar, Kumaon division, Uttarakhand, India
Other namesPylore Krishnaier Rajagopalan
Occupation(s)Vector control scientist, acarologist
Years active1952-1990
Known forVector Control programme in India
AwardsPadma Shri
Om Prakash Bhasin Award

He returned to India in 1960 and rejoined the Virus Research Centre where he was asked to lead the investigation into the mysterious Kyasanur Forest Disease in rural Karnataka.[8] His pioneering work on the role of migratory birds in spreading disease vectors as part of the investigation into KFD, conducted under the supervision of the ornithologist the late Dr Salim Ali, led to his doctoral degree from Pune University.[9]

He was then assigned as a Senior Scientist to the World Health Organization Project on Genetic Control of Mosquitoes in New Delhi, during which time he expanded the body of knowledge on mosquito population behaviour.[10] In 1975 he was posted to Pondicherry where he founded the Vector Control Research Centre - a research centre set up to study ecological control of vector borne diseases.[11]

The VCRC, under his leadership, contributed significantly to the control of Japanese Encephalitis in Burdwan District.[12] However its flagship achievement under the leadership of Dr Rajagopalan was to pioneer the technique of Biological Control, which combined minimal chemical intervention with environmental measures and the use of natural mosquito larval predators to bring down the incidence of diseases like filariasis. This was demonstrated spectacularly over five years in Pondicherry and Shertallai in Kerala.[13]

After his superannuation in 1990, he served the World Health Organization as a member of their steering committees on Filariasis and on biological control of vectors.[14] He is a fellow of the Royal Society of Tropical Medicine, UK[2] and is credited with several articles on vector control and acarology.[15][16]

Scientific Interests edit

Dr Rajagopalan has worked extensively on ecological aspects of vector borne diseases  for four decades on a variety of diseases in India. His academic interests are:

  • Japanese Encephalitis and its control in several states.[17]
  • On ticks and mites, small mammals, birds, and on the Epidemiology of Kyasanur Forest Disease.[18]
  • Genetic control of mosquitoes.[19]
  • Integrated vector control  methods with community participation to control Bancroftian Filariasis in Pondicherry.[20]
  • Elimination of Brugian Filariasis in Shertallai.[21]
  • Control of Island Malaria in Rameswaram and urban malaria in Salem.[22]
  • Malaria control in the coastal villages of Pondicherry and in tribal areas of Orissa.[23]

Education edit

Dr Rajagopalan has continuously kept himself abreast with the body of knowledge in vector biology. He has received extensive  training on arboviruses from 406th SEATO research Centre, Bangkok, at the National Institutes of Health, Tokyo, at the Trinidad Regional Virus Laboratory, Port-of-Spain and at the East African Virus Laboratory in Entebbe in Uganda.[24] He sharpened his knowledge of Malaria vector control at the Malaria Research Institute, Amani in Tanzania and on mosquito taxonomy from P. F. Mattingly at the British Museum (Natural History), London.[25] He had the privilege of learning  Ecology under Charles Elton at Bureau of Animal Populations, Oxford, and Acarology under Dr Hoogstraal, US Naval Medical Research Unit in Cairo during his career.[26] He was associated with Dr Jorge Boshell and many others of the Rockefeller Foundation for two decades.[27] In recognition of his body of scientific work, he was honoured with a Padma Shri by President R Venkataraman in 1990.[28]

References edit

  1. ^ Raghunath. Current Status And Research. Tata McGraw-Hill Education. ISBN 9780070251779.
  2. ^ a b "Need to rescue Indian medical research from its moribund state". India Medical Times. 16 August 2015. Retrieved 2 September 2015.
  3. ^ "Discussion" (PDF). Inflibnet. 2015. Retrieved 2 September 2015.
  4. ^ Chauhan, N. (2020). "Dr P.K. Rajagopalan". The National Medical Journal of India. 33 (2): 116–119. doi:10.4103/0970-258X.290284. PMID 33753642.
  5. ^ "The Seven-Decade Transnational Hunt for the Origins of the Kyasanur Forest Disease – the Wire Science". 19 November 2016.
  6. ^ Register - University of California, Volume 2. University of California, Berkeley. 1958.
  7. ^ "My Life's Journey with Science by Dr. P.K. Rajagopalan | PDF | Yellow Fever | Mosquito".
  8. ^ "How Karnatakas Shivamogga Became the Hotbed of Monkey Fever". earthjournalism.net.
  9. ^ Rajagopalan, P. K.; Paul, S. D.; Sreenivasan, M. A. (1969). "Isolation of Kyasanur forest disease virus from the insectivorous bat, Rhinolophus rouxi and from Ornithodoros ticks". The Indian Journal of Medical Research. 57 (5): 805–808. PMID 5820428.
  10. ^ "Biological warfare experiment in India and the curious case of yellow fever mosquitoes". 21 January 2021.
  11. ^ "Pondichery: The gnats live on - India Environment Portal | News, reports, documents, blogs, data, analysis on environment & development | India, South Asia".
  12. ^ Rajagopalan, P. K.; Panicker, K. N. (1978). "A note on the 1976 epidemic of Japanese encephalitis in Burdwan district, West Bengal". The Indian Journal of Medical Research. 68: 3938. PMID 33894.
  13. ^ "An innovative holistic approach to control mosquitoes with special reference to mosquito vectors" (PDF). www.researchgate.net. February 2009. Retrieved 9 February 2024.
  14. ^ Rajagopalan, P. K.; Das, P. K.; Subramanian, S.; Vanamail, P.; Ramaiah, K. D. (9 February 1989). "Bancroftian Filariasis in Pondicherry, South India: 1. Pre-Control Epidemiological Observations". Epidemiology and Infection. 103 (3): 685–692. doi:10.1017/S0950268800031083. JSTOR 3863489. PMC 2249545. PMID 2691269.
  15. ^ Elizabeth S. Williams; Ian K. Barke (2008). Infectious Diseases of Wild Mammals. Wiley. p. 558. ISBN 9780470344811. Retrieved 3 September 2015.
  16. ^ Manfred Brack (2012). Agents Transmissible from Simians to Man. Springer Science & Business Media. p. 454. ISBN 9783642719110. Retrieved 3 September 2015.
  17. ^ "Control of malaria and filariasis vectors in South India" (PDF). www.cell.com. August 1987. Retrieved 9 February 2024.
  18. ^ Sreenivasan, M.A.; Bhat, H.R.; Rajagopalan, P.K. (1986). "The epizootics of Kyasanur Forest disease in wild monkeys during 1964 to 1973". Transactions of the Royal Society of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene. 80 (5): 810–814. doi:10.1016/0035-9203(86)90390-1.
  19. ^ Menon, P. K.; Rajagopalan, P. K. (1978). "Control of mosquito breeding in wells by using Gambusia affinis and Aplocheilus blochii in Pondicherry town". The Indian Journal of Medical Research. 68: 927–933. PMID 582034.
  20. ^ "Community Drug Trials For Lymphatic Filariasis Control in India". www.researchgate.net.
  21. ^ "Epidemiological assessment of different intervention..." www.cabidigitallibrary.org.
  22. ^ Rajagopalan, P.K.; Jambulingam, P.; Sabesan, S.; Krishnamoorthy, K.; Rajendran, S.; Gunasekaran, K.; Kumar, N.Pradeep; Prothero, R.Mansell (1986). "Population movement and malaria persistence in Rameswaram Island". Social Science & Medicine. 22 (8): 879–886. doi:10.1016/0277-9536(86)90242-X. PMID 3749960.
  23. ^ "Parasitological Aspects of Malaria Persistence in the Koraput District in Orissa, India". www.researchgate.net.
  24. ^ Rajagopalan, PK (2021). "International Collaboration: Bane or Boon". Journal of Communicable Diseases. 53 (3): 135–142. doi:10.24321/0019.5138.202149.
  25. ^ "Do we need Zoonoses Research in India? - Scilit". www.scilit.net.
  26. ^ "Indian Entomologist Volume 4, Issue 1 (January 2023)" (PDF). www.indianentomologist.org.
  27. ^ Rajagopalan, P. K.; Patil, A. P.; Boshell, J. (1968). "Studies on Ixodid tick populations on the forest floor in the Kyasanur Forest disease area. (1961--1964)". The Indian Journal of Medical Research. 56 (4): 497–509. PMID 5679148.
  28. ^ Rao, Mohit M. (3 February 2019). "KFD surveillance is no longer taking place, says scientist". The Hindu.

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