No threat of bird flu : Poultry body

There is no imminent threat or danger from bird flu in the country as the conditions required for the spread of the H5N1 virus in poultry birds or humans do not exist here, said Shashi Kapur, president, Poultry Federation of India.

"The government and the poultry industry are fully geared to ensure complete safety from this virus", he said and added that the hype created over the threat of outbreak of bird flu epidemic or human pandemic was unwarranted.

Kapur said the H5N1 virus would have to pass through two stages to cause pandemic. It would have first to mutate (transform) into a more virulent strain and then to mutate into a strain capable of passing infection from human to human. "Fortunately, we are not even at the first stage yet", he said.

Though this virus affects several species of birds and animals, pig is the only animal capable of two-way transmission of avian influenza virus between birds and humans.

However, domestic species of pigs and ducks carrying and multiplying this virus do not generally die because of the virus. Chickens having little resistance against it generally succumb to heavy viral load.

Intermingling of wild birds (carriers of the virus) with chicken, ducks and pigs could increase the risk of spread of this virus.

Of the 21 countries where this virus has been detected so far, only five have reported human deaths. These are Vietnam, Thailand, Cambodia, Indonesia and China.

In all these five countries, the victims were living with affected geese, ducks and pigs who passed on this infection to chickens. Unlike in most of these countries where people eat uncooked and under-cooked eggs or meat, in India these products are thoroughly cooked before consumption, averting the risk of human health hazards, Kapur said.

He said slaughter of infected chicken alone would not prevent the infection from spreading. The only effective measure to contain it would be to selectively vaccinate all the backyard and village population of chickens around areas frequented by migratory birds.