Maharashtra on alert but no need panic: Government on bird flu threat

Following reports of bird flu (avian influenza) cases in many states, the Maharashtra government has put the administration on high alert. However, officials assured

Following reports of bird flu (avian influenza) cases in many states, the Maharashtra government has put the administration on high alert. However, officials assured that there is no need to panic as there is no imminent threat before the state.

The state government has also issued an advisory to those in the poultry business and consumers of non-vegetarian food not to panic unnecessarily about the avian flu. (ASSOCIATED PRESS)

The government has issued an alert to all local officers from the animal husbandry department to report any unusual death of birds if found, and send samples to the Western Regional Disease Diagnostic Laboratory (WRDDL) that has already conducted over 5,000 tests on birds in the last nine months, and found no strain of avian influenza.

The National Institute of High-Security Animal Diseases (NIHSAD), Bhopal, a nodal body for testing the disease, has also not issued any warning as of now, state officials clarified.

The state government has also issued an advisory to those in the poultry business and consumers of non-vegetarian food not to panic unnecessarily.

Several states such as Himachal Pradesh, Rajasthan, Kerala and Madhya Pradesh reported bird flu cases, which lead to panic and culling of ducks, hens and other domestic birds within a 1-km radius of the affected areas at a few places.

Anoop Kumar, principal secretary, animal husbandry department, said that the situation in Maharashtra is different. “Going by the annual surveillance plan, we conduct tests of birds and livestock on a regular basis at WRDDL. In the last nine months (between April and December 2020), 1,715 samples of excreta, 1,913 blood samples and 1,549 oral swabs of birds were collected for RT-PCR (reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction) and ELISA (enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay) -based tests, and none of them were positive for avian influenza so far,” Kumar said.

The principal secretary said that NIHSAD, the authority to declare a national-level epidemic, has not issued any warning. “There is no red alert issued by the Centre; also, there is no report of migratory birds dying of bird flu in the state. Hence, there is no need to panic. We may have been in trouble if Himachal Pradesh was our neighbouring state,” Kumar added.

Dead migratory birds at Pong Dam lake in Kangra district of Himachal Pradesh were found be infected with H5N1 (bird flu) by NIHSAD, while deaths of crows in Jhalawar and Jodhpur in Rajasthan, and Indore in Madhya Pradesh, were due to the H5N8 strain (a subtype of the influenza A virus), which can cause mortality in poultry birds, but chances of their transmission to humans are very low, said officials from the animal husbandry department.

An advisory issued by the state animal husbandry department states, “We have yet not found any death of birds owing to bird flu. Hence, those in the poultry business and people who prefer to eat non-vegetarian food have no need to worry unnecessarily. They are suggested to report if found, any unusual deaths of wild animals, domestic hens and poultry birds.”

Dr VV Limaye, joint commissioner (disease investigation), animal husbandry department, said, “We have issued an advisory to all the district deputy commissioners and district animal husbandry officers to report to the state government if they find any unusual deaths of birds or poultry in their jurisdiction. They have also been directed to send samples to WRDDL for testing to ascertain the actual cause of death.”

“The bird flu virus doesn’t transmit to the human body directly. The virus can cause mortality only in poultry birds. However, it may transmit to human beings in case of a mutation. Even mutation is of two types, and we called them ‘antigenic drift and antigenic shift’. In the case of antigenic drift, there are no chances of the virus infecting human beings because of a slight modification. However, in the case of antigenic shift, major changes in DNA or RNA take place and the virus can acquire the capability to infect human beings. In the last 15 years, there have hardly been any instances where the virus has been transmitted to human beings from poultry birds,” Dr Limaye explained.