The Hindu : Total ban on poultry imports

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Friday, Jan 30, 2004

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Total ban on poultry imports

By Gargi Parsai

NEW DELHI, JAN. 29. India has extended the six-month ban on import of domestic and wild birds, hatching eggs, bird semen, fresh meat and processed poultry meat to all countries to prevent bird flu or avian influenza from reaching its shores. Last week, the ban was imposed on imports from South Korea, Vietnam, Thailand, Cambodia, Pakistan and Japan.

India does not import live birds but imports processed poultry meat. Authorities have imposed a ban on both as a precautionary measure, the Union Health Minister, Sushma Swaraj, told mediapersons here today after a meeting with the Minister for Agriculture, Rajnath Singh, experts from the World Health Organisation and the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organisation.

Ms. Swaraj said the virus had not reached India and there have been no deaths of birds raising suspicion. "The situation is under control. We are closely monitoring it."

The Ministry of Environment has sent an advisory to the State Governments to monitor the migratory birds arriving in their region. Any deaths are to be immediately reported to the Department of Animal Husbandry in the Union Ministry of Agriculture on phone number 011-23381119. The Centre has advised the States to keep a strict vigil on poultry deaths and destroy any infected birds by burning them.

According to the WHO advisory, even dead fowl can carry the lethal H5, H7 and H9 virus for 10 days. India has written to the SAARC Secretariat for convening a meeting of the SAARC nations to put up a joint strategy against the avian influenza virus. It has offered to host the meeting.

The border States of Punjab, Rajasthan, Gujarat and in the Northeast have been given "special advisories" to screen passengers coming from neighbouring countries.

In view of the epidemic in Pakistan, the Punjab Government has been put on red alert and has been asked to monitor and screen passengers arriving on the Samjhauta Express at Attari. The Home Ministry's help is also being sought to intensify vigil through the Border Security Force, Ms. Swaraj said.

The testing of infected birds will be done at the Animal Husbandry Department's lab at Bhopal, which is equipped with diagnostic kits and reagents. The Indian Council for Medical Research also has a lab in Pune for testing animal genes.

No threat to humans

The virus that killed flocks in Pakistan (about 4 million birds) poses no threat to human beings. There have been no reports of human-to-human transmission, but international health experts say they are concerned that the virus could mutate and spark a new flu pandemic.

Ms. Swaraj said that to institutionalise the monitoring, the Government had set up a coordinating committee with officials from the Animal Husbandry and Health Ministries and representatives of the WHO on it.

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