The alert issued by the Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) about a possible resurgence of the dreaded bird flu virus needs to be taken seriously for several reasons. For one, India is among the six countries identified as being at high risk. The others so identified are Bangladesh, China, Egypt, Indonesia and Vietnam. Worse, this danger comes from a mutant strain of the common bird flu virus H5N1, which can bypass the protection offered by existing vaccines and can, therefore, pose unpredictable risks to poultry and human health. The FAO has explicitly indicated the presence of the new strain, described as H5N1 2.3.2.1, in China and Vietnam, from where wild and migratory birds are carrying it even to previously virus-free countries like Israel, the Palestinian Territories, Bulgaria, Romania, Mongolia and Nepal. Clearly, no country, least of all India, can consider itself safe. India has already faced several outbreaks of this scourge since 2006, the last being in Tripura in February this year, before declaring itself free of bird flu barely two months ago in July. The north-eastern region remains the most vulnerable, being in the vicinity of countries where this deadly virus has firmly entrenched itself. The high population of pigs in this region heightens the risk, as pigs serve as the ‘mixing pots’ where flu virus strains can easily re-assort or mutate into new forms to pose unforeseeable peril.
Though the World Health Organisation (WHO) thinks that the new strain of the H5N1 virus does not present any additional public health danger, it has also, at the same time, warned that the existing danger of humans getting infected by the influenza virus on being exposed directly to infected poultry or contaminated environment remains. It is reassuring that Indian authorities have taken immediate note of the FAO’s wakeup call and have expressed full preparedness to deal with any eventuality. It also goes to India's credit that it has managed the past few outbreaks of bird flu well, containing the infection to the areas of occurrence in most cases. But post-outbreak management and containment does not avert the economic losses caused to commercial poultry units and backyard poultry keepers due to culling of all birds in and around the foci of infection. It is worth recalling that the first major bird flu outbreak in 2006 had led to a widespread scare among consumers of eggs and poultry meat and had, consequently, virtually halted domestic sales as well as export of poultry products. The poultry industry had suffered losses worth several thousands of crores. An urgent step that the government needs to take to avert such a crisis in future is to divide the country into distinct zones, as per the World Animal Health Organisation’s norms. This would restrict the commercial fallout of bird flu outbreaks to the affected regions, letting normal business, including domestic consumption and exports, go on from other areas.
Equally important is to create awareness among the organised poultry industry as well as rural poultry farmers about bio-safety measures, such as regular cleaning and disinfection of poultry units and avoiding or minimising contacts between workers and backyard or wild birds. Such awareness can help minimise the danger of outbreaks and their rapid spread. Moreover, the country can do with more high security animal disease laboratories like the one in Bhopal for speedy diagnoses of the virus to facilitate timely response.
