Bird flu has subsided in India

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Bird flu has subsided in India - top official By Palash Kumar

Wed Jun 7, 10:21 AM ET

NEW DELHI (Reuters) - Bird flu has subsided in India with no new

cases reported since March, the top official in charge of prevention

efforts told Reuters on Wednesday.

The H5N1 strain of avian influenza, which has killed more than 125

people worldwide since 2003, was first diagnosed in India in February

when thousands of birds were found dead in Navapur in Maharashtra.

Within weeks it had spread to some nearby areas including across the

state border in Gujarat.

About 1 million birds were culled in a radius of around 10 km from

the affected areas. No human infection has yet been reported.

Since the March outbreak there has been no incidence of bird flu in

the country, said P.M.A. Hakeem, secretary of the department of

animal husbandry and dairying, the central body dealing with the

crisis.

" We feel that it has subsided. Of course, the onset of summer has

also helped in containing this, " Hakeem said.

Apart from the affected pockets of Maharashtra and Gujarat, samples

collected from all the other states where there was a suspicion of

avian influenza had tested negative, he added.

" In the practical sense we are free because there have been no cases

in the past two-and-a-half months, " he said.

India was now following a drill laid out by the World Organisation

for Animal Health (OIE), conducting surveys and tests around the

affected areas, Hakeem said. This could lead eventually to the

country being declared free from bird flu.

" We hope this should take place within six months, " he said, but

added that authorities had issued an alert for next winter,

especially at the country's 200 or so migratory bird sanctuaries.

Avian flu is believed to have come to India through migratory birds

who flock here in their tens of thousands each winter from as far

afield as Siberia and western Europe.

Scientists fear the deadly H5N1 strain could evolve into a virus

which can pass easily from person to person, triggering a pandemic

that could kill millions.

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