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AVIAN flu, it seems, literally appeared out of nowhere in Navapur taluk in Maharashtra's Nandurbar district. The "outbreak", as the government likes to term the sudden death of about 30,000 chickens, came to light on February 8. The number is mind-boggling. "Nowhere in the world, not even in the worst-affected countries in East Asia, have chickens died in such large numbers and that too in such a brief period. Thirty thousand chickens dying in a few days is something that really needs to be investigated," says Dr. Ravi Bapat, chairman of Haffkine Bio-pharmaceutical Corporation Ltd.
. Apparently chickens have been dying in the poultry farms of Navapur since January. Farm owners had been warned about the avian flu infection last year and told to report abnormal behaviour or deaths in their flocks. When the chickens started dying some farm owners did report the deaths but these were attributed to the Ranikhet virus, which does not infect humans. Yet another story is that when birds started dying in greater numbers, poultry farmers did not report that to the authorities but instead disposed of the carcasses secretly as they feared that the entire stock would be destroyed if officials suspected an attack of bird flu.
It was only on February 8, when local newspapers reported the large-scale deaths of chickens, that it became public. On February 10, carcasses of 29 chickens were sent to the High Security Animal Disease Laboratory of the Indian Veterinary Research Institute in Bhopal, which is known for its compliance with international standards for animal testing. On February 18, the laboratory confirmed all samples as positive cases of the avian influenza variant H5N1, the deadliest of the bird flu strains because it has successfully jumped the species barrier and can be passed from birds to humans.
Meanwhile, the National Institute of Virology (NIV) had also collected samples from humans who had been in close contact with poultry in Navapur. The NIV, which has been interacting with the Centre for Disease Control, Atlanta, U.S., on this matter affirmed on February 24 that all 95 human samples suspected of avian flu proved negative. But the NIV's declaration on February 23 should not detract from two issues. One is the need to continue investigations into what happened in Navapur. The other is that just the fact that there is no known case of human infection does not change the Bhopal report, which says clearly that H5N1 has entered India.
Many unanswered questions remain about the Maharashtra government's handling of the situation. Two days before the virus was declared officially as H5N1, Animal Husbandry Commissioner Vijay Kumar assured Public Health Secretary Vijay Satbir Singh that the bird deaths in Navapur were definitely the result of the Ranikhet disease. However, when the laboratory confirmed H5N1, everyone, including Animal Husbandry Minister Anees Ahmed was anxious to prove that they were not lax. The Minister, in fact, blurted out that he was sure right from the beginning that it was bird flu, a statement that created enough uproar for him to be unavailable for comments subsequently. Poultry companies, particularly the Pune-based Rs.1,300-crore Venkateshwara Hatcheries, added to the confusion by challenging the presence of avian flu. The firm supplies almost 75 per cent of the chicks sold to farmers in India. Nandurbar Collector served a show-cause notice on it asking it to explain why it sent infected chickens to poultry farms in Navapur. "We are not the only suppliers of chicks and have always supplied high-quality birds free from any vertically transmitted diseases. We tested 40 samples and all the results were negative. Until the laboratory in London, where samples have been sent for testing, declares the presence of bird flu virus, we will stand by our statement," O.P. Singh, chief executive officer of the hatcheries, maintained.
Based on the Bhopal laboratory report, Navapur was deemed an infected zone and about two lakh chickens were killed in four days within a 3 km radius. In the heat of the crisis, a conspiracy involving foreign pharmaceutical firms is also mentioned. In essence, this theory says that there is no bird flu in the country but the Indian government is stockpiling Tamiflu, purchased in vast quantities from the multinational company Roche. This theory gained popularity after the government announced that the drug would not be available via retail.
Vijay Satbir Singh dismissed the idea by saying: "There is no substance in the theory. We have to have the drug to treat patients. So far there have been no confirmed cases but the patients who were at high risk were started on a course of Tamiflu." He says stockpiling of the drug is essential because the World Health Organisation has said "it's a matter of `when' and not `if' bird flu comes to India".
`Why Navapur?' remains another unanswered question. Bird flu spreads from wild bird to domestic bird and then spreads within the domestic bird population if there is a close proximity between the birds. Navapur does not qualify on either count. The buying and selling of fowl is largely a local business thereby diminishing the possibility of imported infections. Neither is Navapur on the map of migration of wild birds, among whom avian flu is believed to be endemic.
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