Kerala   

Kerala has more to fear from inter-State trade

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Kerala, like other States, is on an alert for bird flu (avian influenza). However, the State may have to fear more from the inter-State trade in chicken and eggs than migratory birds.

Though migratory birds were known to be the carriers of the highly pathogenic influenza virus, studies showed that they did not spread the disease across the borders. Besides, most of the migratory birds which arrived in Kerala in summer, followed a route close to the West coast that did not touch West Bengal and Tripura from where the disease had been reported. A study published in a journal of British Ornithologists Union last year said that poultry trade, rather than migratory birds, caused the global dispersal of the virus.

The authors, French ecologists Michel Gauthier-Clerc, Camille Lebarbenchon and Frederic Thomas of Station Biologique de la Tour du Valat (a research centre for the conservation of Mediterranean wetlands) and GEMI (the Laboratory of Genetics and Evolution of Infectious Diseases) of France, said that the spread of the diseases (prior to 2007) did not correspond to the pattern of bird migration. Migratory birds did not recognise borders, yet the virus had remained restricted to China and southeast Asia for some years. They noted that if migrating birds mainly dispersed the virus, the virus should also spread by large jumps of thousands of kilometres, throughout the migratory stopping places of Asia and Africa.

“Although it remains possible that a migratory bird can spread the virus HPAI H5N1 and contaminate poultry, the evidence overwhelmingly supports the hypothesis that human movements of domestic poultry have been the main agent of global dispersal of the virus to date.”

On the other hand, battery farming had been found to increase the risk of spread of the disease. Transport of droppings or waste also led to the transmission of the virus to distant areas. Confining chicken and ducks reared in open grounds to farms might be counterproductive.There was little reason to fear that migratory birds arriving in Kerala would spread the disease to poultry being reared outdoors. Birdwatcher C. Susanth kumar of Warblers and Waders, Thiruvananthapuram, said the migratory birds that travelled the eastern route, through West Bengal, did not stop there if the weather conditions were good. (If the weather was bad, they might stop briefly in West Bengal). Moreover, most of them flew to Sri Lanka without touching Kerala.

A substantial portion of chicken and eggs consumed in Kerala came from neighbouring States. There was some concern in this regard as some poultry farmers in Tamil Nadu sourced eggs from West Bengal.

Printer friendly page  
Send this article to Friends by E-Mail

Stories in this Section

Kerala has more to fear from inter-State trade
VS warns against violence
Call of music
Siesta after the slog
Bird flu and inter-State trade
Orthodox Church ups the ante
Wayanad to witness close contest
Peoplespeak
Making one’s own model
Paying tributes
Grandeur fit for gods
‘Cinema limits freedom of viewers’
Sunni students take out rally
KNM begins campaign
Train to Ajmer
Decking up
Probe into construction site accident ordered
Wishing speedy recovery
Foodies’ day out

Copyright © 2008, The Hindu. Republication or redissemination of the contents of this screen are expressly prohibited without the written consent of The Hindu