August 14, 2006

 

India announces bird flu free status

 

 

India's Department of Animal Husbandry, Dairying and Fisheries, under the Ministry of Agriculture, on Friday (Aug 11) notified the World Organisation of Animal Health (OIE) that it is declaring itself bird flu free following an absence of bird flu outbreaks for the last three months.

 

OIE specifies that a country could regain its status as a bird flu-free country three months after a stamping-out policy (including disinfection) is applied and surveillance carried out in the three-month period.

 

The OIE does not confer the status but puts the onus on the affected countries to declare themselves free of bird flu if they deem the measures taken comply with those specified by the OIE.

 

Surveillance for H5N1 was carried out in a 15 km radius of the affected areas in Maharashtra, Gujarat and Madhya Pradesh, areas previously hit by bird flu, authorities said.

 

The High Security Disease Laboratory in Bhopal have tested nearly 67,000 samples since the first outbreak in February 2006.

 

India reported its first case of an outbreak of bird flu Feb 18 in Navapur and Uchchal districts of Maharashtra and Gujarat. Further outbreaks were reported in Jalgaon district of Maharashtra and spread to other areas of Madhya Pradesh.

The last outbreak was detected on Apr 18.

 

Local authorities also carried out the culling of poultry in a radius of 10 km from the outbreak, imposed movement restrictions, and carried out disinfection and cleaning up of the infected premises.

 

The final cleaning up and disinfection process was completed on May 7.

 

India has also promised continued surveillance in the country, especially in areas with previous outbreaks, areas of major poultry concentrations and along the routes of migratory birds, official sources said.

 

India's poultry industry is eagerly waiting for the country to be declared bird flu free, O.P. Singh, CEO of National Egg Coordination Committee (NECC), told reporters.

 

There is pent-up demand in countries, especially those in the Middle East that are waiting for India to export eggs again, he said.

 

Once OIE is notified that India is bird flu-free, exporters would be able to supply the swelling demand in the Middle East and Africa, Singh said.

 

Eggs from India cost around four times less than those from Europe. India exported around six million eggs daily prior to bird flu.

 

India hardly exported any poultry products in the last six months since bird flu was first detected in the country.

 

Last year, table eggs alone accounted for Rs.3.8 billion (US$82 million) of the Rs.6.2-billion (US$133 million) worth of poultry products export.

 

Besides eggs for consumption, India also exports hatching eggs.

 

According to NECC estimates, the poultry industry has lost Rs.128 billion (US$2.7 billion) since the first outbreak of avian flu was reported in February.

 

Although demand and retail prices of poultry products have picked up since bird flu, industry sources said farmers feel they are inadequately compensated by the government.