Advisory Center Issues to Monitor Bird Flu Spread: Here’s everything you need to understand.
Key sentence:
- The authorities issued advisories to control the spread of avian influenza or bird flu and requested all states to keep a close eye on detecting any unusual bird deaths.
- In Kerala, Himachal Pradesh, & Rajasthan and Madhya Pradesh, thousands of birds reportedly died.
- Just a few months after India declared the country free of the disease on September 30 did the current outbreak begin.
On Wednesday, the authorities issued advisories to control the spread of avian influenza or bird flu and requested all states to keep a close eye on detecting any unusual bird deaths, as the Centre stated that outbreaks were confirmed from at least four states.
Here’s what we heard about the epidemic:
— In Kerala (mainly poultry), Himachal Pradesh (migratory birds), & Rajasthan as well as Madhya Pradesh (crows), thousands of birds reportedly died since the outbreak started at the ends of December.
— The cause of the outbreak is thought to have been migratory birds.
— In New Delhi, the government has established a control room to keep an eye on the situation, even though no cases have been registered among humans till now.
—About 400,000 chickens reportedly died over the previous 20 days in Haryana’s Panchkula district.
— Likewise, in Uttarakhand’s capital, Dehradun, three crows were suspected of having died of the disease. They were awaiting their test results.
—Jharkhand as well as Gujarat, issued an alert, also.
— Apart from Kerala’s two epicentres, the Union Ministry of Health has established special Panchkula groups.
— The current epidemic is caused by the H5N8 virus, according to scientists, while other strains circulate globally. In recent weeks, many outbreaks in Europe have been recorded, with wild birds suspected of transmitting the disease.
— Both H5N1 (another avian influenza strain) and H5N8 are highly pathogenic (the disease-causing potential of a pathogen) but do not infect humans significantly.
— Comprehensive culling has been required for past outbreaks among farm birds.
— Just a few months after India declared the country free of the disease on September 30 did the current outbreak begin. The first epidemic of avian influenza recorded by India was in 2006.
The government reported 12 disease epicentres: Kota, Jhalawar, Baran, in Rajasthan; Indore, Malwa, Mandsaur, in Madhya Pradesh; Kangra in Himachal Pradesh; as well as Kottayam and also Alappuzha in Kerala (four epicentres).
— In Alappuzha and Kottayam, Kerala, on Wednesday, around 69,000 birds, including ducks including chickens, were euthanized.
— Kerala has announced a state disaster for bird flu and mobilized rapid response teams for efforts to slaughter and surveillance.
To control the spread of bird flu, Madhya Pradesh has prohibited the transport of poultry from several other states.
In the four subdivisions of Dehra, Fatehpur, Jawali, and India, Himachal Pradesh has banned the sale and the export of poultry products and fish.
