Nationwide surveillance mechanism to help India control bird flu outbreak

The Indian Government has announced that a nationwide surveillance mechanism is in place to control and contain a possible outbreak of bird flu in future.

The country had successfully controlled the spread of Avian Influenza, the deadly virus that causes bird flu, early this year.

"India is fully prepared to control any outbreak of Avian Influenza (AI) though the country is declared free from the disease in August, 2006," an official statement issued by the Agriculture Ministry said.

The strategy to control the disease includes continued surveillance throughout the country and especially in the areas where the outbreak of bird flu was noticed in February this year.

More than 73,000 samples have been tested at HSADL, Bhopal since the first outbreak.

Routine surveillance all over the country combined with active and focussed surveillance in vulnerable areas is being continued to ensure early detection of the disease in case of any fresh outbreak.

The strategy of the Government of India is also to give thrust to training of human resources and dissemination of information on bird flu and reduce the risk of human transmission effectively in the event of any outbreak.

The modalities for sharing virus isolates of bird flu are being worked out between Indian Council of Agriculture Research (ICAR) and Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR).

Training of veterinary personnel to undertake control and containment operations for Avian Influenza is being continued as a priority activity.