Bird Flu Outbreak: Health Ministry rushes multi-disciplinary teams to Kerala & Haryana

Amid the Bird Flu outbreak in various states across the country, the Union Health Ministry has deployed multi-disciplinary teams to the affected districts to review the situation of Avian Influenza. Two teams comprising of experts from the National Center for Disease Control, National Institute of Virology, PGIMER and RML Hospital and the Lady Hardinge Medical College have been deployed to Kerala and Haryana.

The deployment of experts comes after the notification of the Animal Husbandry Department which noted the detection of the H5N8 virus from dead ducks in Alappuzha and Kottayam districts in Kerala and from poultry samples in Haryana's Panchkula. 

Both the multi-disciplinary teams have been sent to assist the state health departments to contain the Avian Influenza. Apart from this, a high-level team comprising of Director, NCDC and Joint Secretary & COVID-19 nodal officer, Ministry of Food Processing Industries has been deployed to Kerala, where the flu has been declared as a state-specific disaster.

The Health Ministry has also noted reports of Bird Flu from Rajasthan and Madhya Pradesh and has informed that the Department of Animal Husbandry has issued alerts to further intensify surveillance to detect any case in poultry birds. 

The Health Ministry has confirmed that no human case of Avian Influenza has been reported in the country. 

Centre steps up vigil 

On Tuesday, the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change wrote to states and UTs, requesting them to take possible precautions to prevent the transmission of diseases, if any, in other animals or birds and human beings. The Union Ministry has directed state governments to set up state-level monitoring committees for migratory birds and develop action plans dealing with any emergency. 

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1800 migratory birds found dead

After Rajasthan, Kerala and Madhya Pradesh, the northern state of Himachal Pradesh also reported cases of bird flu as officials confirmed that migratory birds found dead at Pong Dam Lake in Kangra district tested positive for the H5N8 virus. Around 1,800 migratory birds, most of them bar-headed geese, have been found dead in the Pong Dam Lake sanctuary in Himachal Pradesh. Following the case, Kangra District Magistrate Rakesh Prajapati has prohibited slaughtering, sale, purchase and export of any poultry, birds, fish of any breed and their related products, including eggs, meat, chicken, etc, in Fatehpur, Dehra, Jawali and Indora subdivisions of the district.

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The flu was first witnessed in Rajasthan's Jhalawar district where nearly 50 crows within a kilometre dropped dead. The flu had forced authorities to impose Section 144 in the area while a Rapid Response Team was also deployed. Similar cases were reported in Jaipur and Jodhpur as well. After Rajasthan, authorities in Madhya Pradesh were alerted as carcasses of nearly 50 crows were found in Indore. 

What is Avian Influenza?

Avian influenza is the disease caused by infection from avian birds - Type A viruses. The viruses are common amongst aquatic birds worldwide and domestic poultry including certain animal species are extremely susceptible to the virus. Avian flu does not normally infect humans. However, sporadic infections with avian flu viruses have been reported in the past. The virus was first detected in 1996 in a Chinese goose and the first case of human infection was reported in 1997 in Hong Kong. Since then, cases of Avian Flu have been reported in more than 50 countries across Asia, Africa, Europe and the Middle East. 

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