The Hindu : National : "No case of avian influenza in India"

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Sunday, Oct 30, 2005

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National

"No case of avian influenza in India"

Gargi Parsai

NEW DELHI: There is no case of the highly pathogenic avian influenza (H5N1) in poultry in India, the Department of Animal Husbandry and Dairying under the Agriculture Ministry said on Friday.

Speaking to The Hindu here, Animal Husbandry and Dairying Secretary P.M.A. Hakeem said over 1,000 random blood samples of poultry and migratory birds were being investigated every month at the High Security Animal Disease Laboratory at Bhopal. "The poultry industry and consumers should not worry at all. Of course, we have to be constantly alert," he said.

India has banned import from the affected countries. In any case, every poultry import has to pass through Sanitary Import Permit at the four quarantine centres in Delhi, Mumbai, Kolkata and Chennai. Normally import is banned for six months from the affected country. The affected poultry have to be destroyed and burnt in what is known as "stamping out''. H5N1 is said to have mutated into humans in some of the Southeast Asian countries but it is not contagious between human beings.

India does not import live birds. But it imports only one-day chicks for poultry breeding. The country's poultry business is valued at over Rs. 15,000 crores although its exports are modest at less than Rs. 100 crores.

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