NEW DELHI: A national team of experts from the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) has been deployed to Gujarat to investigate the Chandipura virus outbreak and strengthen the response to the disease. He added that ICMR teams have been studying the disease in Gujarat for the past two years to understand its causes and patterns. The Union Ministry of Health and Family Welfare has also deployed a National Joint Outbreak Response Team (NJORT) to Gujarat and Rajasthan to strengthen the response to the outbreak. The response is being supported by disease surveillance under the Integrated Disease Surveillance Programme (IDSP), coordinated by the National Centre for Disease Control (NCDC) along with state surveillance units. According to the World Health Organisation, Chandipura virus belongs to the Rhabdoviridae family and is associated with acute encephalitis syndrome, particularly among children.