Fighting bird flu

EDITORIAL

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— Outbreak of the dreaded bird flu or avian influenza is assuming alarming proportions in the State, with more and more areas coming under its grip. First detected in lower Assam areas, the disease has spread rapidly to different places, including State capital Guwahati and the upper Assam district of Dibrugarh. Apparently, the steps taken to check its spread have not yielded the desired results but the worst can happen if the virus were to infect humans. Such a situation is fraught with catastrophic consequences, and could cause a global pandemic. The State Government has already made known its helplessness in the event of a full-fledged bird flu transmission to humans. Besides mobilising its own resources, the State Government should try to extract as much Central assistance as possible to enhance its preparedness. With suspected cases of bird flu in humans already reported, every possible effort must be made to prevent its further spread. The rapid spread of the disease across the State has shown that the implementation of the ban on sale of poultry has been far from effective. Initially the ban was more in the form of an appeal to traders to desist from selling poultry without backed by strong punitive measures for violation. The awareness level on various aspects of the disease, too, had been low, with the result that the people were casual about the threat perception.

With the situation deteriorating, the State Government would do well to ensure foolproof monitoring of poultry across the State. A hard crackdown on clandestine sale of poultry – the biggest factor behind bird flu’s rapid spread — is an urgent need. A majority of the poultry owners rear their birds in small backyard farms, making them highly susceptible to the disease. Large quantities of virus discharged by the infected birds in the form of stool, urine and saliva stand exposed in the environment, creating a fertile ground for its transmission. The virus’ high lethality and virulence, its endemic presence, its increasingly large host reservoir, and its significant ongoing mutations, make it the world’s largest current pandemic threat. The public also needs to avoid using poultry as food. This is because although well-cooked chicken or duck may be safe to consume, physical contact with infected poultry or objects contaminated by their faeces or saliva is the main route of the virus to afflict humans. The wetlands of the State must be monitored constantly to detect abnormal behaviour of birds, including migratory ones. Volunteers of NGOs can help the Forest personnel in ensuring this much-needed vigilance.