On 3 July 2026, the Department of Animal Husbandry & Dairying concluded "Pashujanya Yudh Abhyas (PYA)" — the third national-level mock drill under the National One Health Mission — at Khari village, Vidisha, Madhya Pradesh (29 June–3 July). The five-day exercise simulated an outbreak of Influenza A (H1N1) in animals with the potential to spill over to humans and wildlife, and tested the whole response chain — surveillance, early warning, field epidemiology, laboratory diagnosis, containment and public communication — bringing together animal-health, human-health, wildlife, food-safety and district-administration teams. For an NDA/CDS aspirant, this is a fresh and high-yield theme sitting where biology meets public health and governance: the One Health approach and zoonotic diseases.
What "zoonotic diseases" are
Start with the biology, because the definition is testable:
- A zoonotic disease (zoonosis) is an infectious disease that spreads from animals to humans (and sometimes back). The pathogen may be a virus, bacterium, parasite or fungus.
- Transmission can be direct (contact with an infected animal), through food (contaminated meat/milk), through water, or via a vector (like a mosquito or tick).
- A striking fact examiners like: around 60% of known human infectious diseases, and a majority of new/emerging ones, are zoonotic — the animal world is the biggest source of new human diseases.
Famous examples worth memorising: COVID-19, Nipah, Ebola, rabies, avian influenza (bird flu, H5N1), swine flu (H1N1), plague, and Kyasanur Forest Disease. The scenario in the drill — H1N1 (an influenza A virus) jumping from animals to people — is exactly this kind of spillover event. These fundamentals of disease and the human body are the kind built up in the NDA general-knowledge study material.
The One Health approach
The concept the whole exercise is built around is One Health — and it is the single most examinable idea here:
- One Health recognises that the health of humans, animals and the environment is deeply interconnected — you cannot protect one without the others.
- Practically, it means veterinarians, doctors, wildlife experts, food-safety officers and environmental scientists working together — sharing surveillance data and coordinating responses — rather than in separate silos.
- The logic is simple but powerful: since most new diseases start in animals, the best way to protect people is to detect and stop outbreaks at the animal source, before they spill over.
A clean one-line definition: One Health = human + animal + environmental health, managed together. India has institutionalised this through a National One Health Mission, and the Pashujanya Yudh Abhyas drill is that mission being stress-tested like a military exercise — hence the name (yudh abhyas = "war exercise"). This joined-up, "whole-of-government" thinking is exactly the kind of synthesis serving-officer faculty value, developed in the upcoming Cavalier courses in Delhi.
Why mock drills matter: the response chain
The value of an exercise like PYA is that it rehearses the response chain so that, in a real outbreak, the machinery works fast. The stages tested are worth knowing:
- Surveillance and early warning — spotting an unusual cluster of animal deaths or illness quickly.
- Outbreak investigation and field epidemiology — tracing how, where and how fast a disease is spreading.
- Sample collection, transport and laboratory diagnosis — confirming the exact pathogen.
- Risk assessment and incident management — deciding the response and who leads it.
- Biosecurity, containment and movement control — isolating the affected area, culling if needed, and restricting animal movement to stop spread.
- Public communication — clear, calm messaging to prevent panic and misinformation.
The lesson: speed and coordination decide whether a local outbreak stays local or becomes an epidemic — the hard-won lesson of COVID-19. This is why India now runs "war games" for disease just as the armed forces rehearse for conflict.
The bigger picture: why this matters now
For a rounded answer, connect it to the wider world:
- Pandemics are a national-security issue, not just a health one — COVID-19 showed a virus can do more economic and human damage than many conflicts. Preparedness is therefore strategic.
- Drivers of rising zoonotic spillover include deforestation and habitat loss (bringing humans and wildlife into closer contact), intensive livestock farming, wildlife trade, and climate change shifting where disease-carrying species live.
- India's institutional response includes the National One Health Mission, agencies like the National Centre for Disease Control (NCDC) and ICMR on the human side, and the animal-health network under DAHD — increasingly working as one system.
So a drill about a simulated flu outbreak in a Madhya Pradesh village is really about India's readiness for the next pandemic — a genuinely important, current theme. Track such developments via the daily NDA current affairs feed.
Endemic, epidemic, pandemic — the terms to get right
A short vocabulary block that examiners love, because these words are often confused:
- Endemic: a disease constantly present in a population or area at a steady, expected level (e.g. malaria in parts of India).
- Outbreak / epidemic: a sudden rise in cases above the normal expected level in a community or region.
- Pandemic: an epidemic that has spread across countries and continents, affecting a very large number of people (e.g. COVID-19).
- Spillover: the moment a pathogen jumps from an animal reservoir into humans — the trigger for many epidemics.
Two more useful ideas: a "reservoir" is the animal species in which a pathogen naturally lives (bats, birds and pigs are common flu/virus reservoirs), and "herd immunity" is when enough of a population is immune (through infection or vaccination) that the disease can no longer spread easily. Knowing this precise ladder — endemic → outbreak/epidemic → pandemic — lets you describe any disease event correctly, and shows the clear thinking assessors value.
The big picture for an aspirant
Tie it together. A zoonotic disease spreads from animals to humans (about 60% of human infections are zoonotic) — think COVID-19, Nipah, rabies, bird flu (H5N1), swine flu (H1N1). The One Health approach treats human, animal and environmental health as one interconnected system, managed by vets, doctors, wildlife and food-safety experts together — the best way to stop diseases at the animal source. India runs this through the National One Health Mission, and Pashujanya Yudh Abhyas (Vidisha, MP, 2026) stress-tested the response to a simulated H1N1 spillover, rehearsing surveillance → diagnosis → containment → communication. With pandemics now a security issue and spillover rising from deforestation and climate change, this preparedness is strategic. That is a complete, examinable fact-set linking biology, public health and governance — easy science marks and a strong, topical SSB lecturette.
🎯 Practice MCQs
Q1. A "zoonotic disease" is one that: (a) affects only plants (b) spreads from animals to humans (c) is caused only by pollution (d) cannot be transmitted → (b) — an infectious disease transmitted from animals to humans.
Q2. Approximately what share of human infectious diseases are zoonotic in origin? (a) 10% (b) 30% (c) 60% (d) 90% → (c) — about 60%, and the majority of newly emerging ones.
Q3. Which of the following is a zoonotic disease? (a) diabetes (b) Nipah virus (c) scurvy (d) anaemia → (b) — Nipah; others include COVID-19, rabies, bird flu and swine flu.
Q4. The "One Health" approach is best described as managing: (a) only human hospitals (b) human, animal and environmental health together as one interconnected system (c) only animal farms (d) only pollution → (b) — an integrated approach across human, animal and environmental health.
Q5. The 2026 Pashujanya Yudh Abhyas drill simulated an outbreak of: (a) malaria (b) Influenza A (H1N1) in animals with spillover potential (c) dengue (d) tuberculosis → (b) — an H1N1 outbreak testing zoonotic-response readiness.
Q6. "Bird flu" (avian influenza) is caused by a virus commonly designated: (a) H5N1 (b) HIV (c) SARS-only (d) HPV → (a) — H5N1 is the well-known avian-influenza strain.
Q7. A key reason to detect outbreaks at the animal source is that it: (a) is cheaper to ignore (b) stops diseases before they spill over to humans (c) has no effect (d) only helps animals → (b) — stopping spillover early prevents human epidemics.
Q8. Which factor is driving increased zoonotic spillover? (a) reforestation (b) deforestation, wildlife trade and climate change (c) less farming (d) fewer people → (b) — habitat loss and climate change bring humans and wildlife into closer contact.
📋 How this gets asked (PYQ pattern)
Disease and public health are a recurring science set in NDA/CDS, sharpened since COVID-19. The reliable items are the definition of a zoonosis, examples (COVID-19, Nipah, rabies, H5N1 bird flu, H1N1 swine flu), and — increasingly — the One Health concept. Expect "which is a zoonotic disease / what does One Health mean" framings, and matching viruses to diseases. The idea that most new human diseases are zoonotic is a favourite one-liner. The fresh 2026 hook is Pashujanya Yudh Abhyas and the National One Health Mission — ideal for "which approach / which drill / which agency" questions and an epidemic-preparedness angle. We avoid quoting any specific past-paper number; the pattern reflects how the topic recurs.
Studying for NDA or CDS? Zoonoses and One Health — how diseases jump from animals to people and how India prepares — are fresh, high-yield science GK and a topical SSB lecturette on national preparedness. Track our daily NDA current affairs and train with serving-officer faculty in the upcoming Cavalier courses in Delhi.
✍️ Written by Col D.N. Sharma — Veteran, Indian Army; SSB & defence-studies faculty at The Cavalier. Reviewed by the Cavalier Faculty Desk. The Cavalier, founded by ex-Army officers, has trained NDA/CDS/SSB aspirants since 2001 (Facebook · YouTube).
Source: PIB release, 3 July 2026. Facts cross-verified.