The bird flu scare is back. Both the High Security Animal Disease Laboratory (HSADL) at Bhopal and the National Institute of Virology (NIV) are on alert with fresh outbreaks of bird flu in nine countries including Pakistan and Russia. Joint Director of HSADL H K Pradhan said: “India is on alert. Every week, we get about 5000 poultry samples for testing. But we are prepared and the vaccine developed last year is working well. There are 100,000 doses for emergency purposes,” said Pradhan. This vaccine is a unique one, prepared from a reassortant virus, is cheap and working well, he observed. A total of 62 countries were affected by the H5N1 strain of the virus last year. This year, fresh outbreaks have been reported from nine countries, including the United Kingdom and Pakistan in the first week of February. There are outbreaks in Rawalpindi and the North West Frontier Province, Pradhan said and added that the virus is spreading again. The detection of the H5NI virus has prompted the slaughter of millions of birds across Asia and caused the deaths of at least 166 persons worldwide, says Pradhan. People are infected through close contact with birds. There is also the fear that the virus may mutate into a strain that can pass between humans, sparking a worldwide pandemic. “We are on alert,” Pradhan reiterated, and said training programmes are being organised for forest officials, veterinary officers and other departments to equip them with information on how to tackle the disease, such as protecting waterbodies and keeping a watch on migratory birds. According to Pradhan, the virus was introduced in the country twice—at Navapur and Jalgaon in Maharashtra. There were two different, highly pathogenic strains. NIV Director A C Mishra said genetic sequencing of the virus that circulated last year shows that the same strain existed in Pakistan, Iran and Russia. NIV is conducting surveillance for cases of infection in humans. The recently set up avian influenza division will collect foecal samples of migratory birds and test for the virus. “So far, we have examined over 500 samples sent from Navapur, Nagpur and other parts of Maharashtra.”
