Bird Flue: Tackling the Threat on Wings
*Saumitra Mohan

The spectre of bird flue has been raging for quite some time in West Bengal. It has so far spread to different isolated pockets scattered over the fourteen districts of West Bengal. But, the pestilence seems to have spread its tentacles to other countries of South Asia as well as confirmed cases of bird flue have been reported from Pakistan, not to speak of Bangladesh where the disease has been raging for the past one year.

The spectre of bird flue has been giving sleepless nights to the governments in these countries as if allowed to spin out of control, this lone disease may have a very debilitating effect for the entire regional economy, depriving millions of people of the sub-continent of their livelihood. Besides, the negative publicity stemming from it all, also tarnishes our image and all the claims of professionalism.

As is well-known, avian influenza or ‘bird flue’ is a disease of birds including migratory, water birds and domestic birds. The wild waterfowls are natural reservoir of all influenza ‘A’ viruses. Even though it is species-specific, but occasionally the disease has shown potential for jumping species barrier to infect mammals and humans as well. It is believed that the antigenic shift has been causing the pandemic with potential for morbidity and mortality for both animals and humans.

Even though such a bird flue of epidemic proportion was first reported from the South-East Asian countries, we escaped the scare as our poultry upkeep standards were said to be much higher, but one should realise that these viruses are air-borne and do not recognise geographical barriers. Had precautionary measures been taken in the wake of detection and identification of bird flue in neighbouring Bangladesh, the story would have been much different in West Bengal.

As we know, bird flue was first detected in Maharashtra in February 2006 and again in Manipur in July 2007. And now if the dreaded H5N1 viruses have struck our shores resulting in the state of West Bengal reeling under the spectre of bird flue, the usual and sure suspects are the infected migratory and poultry birds from South East Asian countries and Bangladesh. The porous land and coastal borders make the task of border surveillance extremely difficult. Moreover, the very fact that one has to deal with infected creatures who can fly makes the task further difficult.

Talking about bird flue outbreak in West Bengal, it is being alleged that the government has been very slow and lackadaisical in reacting to the crisis. But being someone tackling the crisis at close quarters on behalf of the government, one can vouchsafe for the fact that government has been more than alert and agile in responding to the crisis.

After the information about the unusual death of birds at Margram Gram Panchayat in Rampurhat-II Block of Birbhum district was reported on 12th January, 2008, a control room was set up the very next day at the State Headquarters i.e. Kolkata with several Rapid Response Teams (RRTs) immediately swinging into action to tackle and bring the pestilence under control.

As there is no laboratory equipped with bird flue testing facilities available locally, the collected samples of infected birds have to be sent for examination to the remote National Testing Laboratory at Bhopal. It takes a minimum of three days for the laboratory results to be known and this results in unnecessary loss of precious time which could be utilised for fighting the menace more quickly. After the first bird death from Birbhum, the sample was sent on 12th January, but the confirmation could be available only on 15th January leaving enough time of 72 hours in-between for the virus to spread its tentacles.

Though all precautions have been taken to prevent transmission from birds to humans, human to human transmission can also not be ruled out completely. As is well known, H5N1 virus is highly pathogenic among birds and mammals. It infects humans too, though transmissibility is extremely low. However, the case fatality among humans is said to be high i.e. 60 to 70 per cent, but so far no human fatality from bird flue has been reported in India.

During the bird flue outbreak in South East Asia about a year back, there were many human fatalities as well. But, be it noted that all the seventeen human samples collected from West Bengal and tested at different national laboratories in Pune, New Delhi and Kolkata have tested negative for H5N1 virus, which reflects very positively on governmental efforts in West Bengal given the wider geographical spread of the disease. So, all the allegations about the government being unable to create requisite awareness on bird flue is also not true.
In fact, the government in tandem with the local administration has been taking all the necessary measures to tackle the crisis emanating from bird flue outbreak in the state. Control rooms have been opened across the state at all the levels to plan and coordinate the different preventive and curative activities. Rapid response teams (RRTs) in sufficient numbers have been functioning day in and day out to prevent any further spread or contamination. These teams comprise resource persons from the animal resources departments, medical officers, government officials and contractual staff and labourers who have been acting in close coordination with the local elected members of the panchayats to bring the pestilence under control.

Regular meetings, monitoring and surveillance have been organised and continuing since the day one with an aim to tackle the menace effectively. The health and hygiene surveillance for the culling personnel has also been organised and functioning well. Isolation wards have also been opened in sufficient numbers at different places for tackling and treating, if at all, any human case.

But if still the disease has been spreading, it has more to do with the unfamiliarity with a disease of such nature including lack of prior training, resistance from the local people whose birds are supposed to be culled, inclement weather conditions, and failure to effectively seal the international borders with Bangladesh which has more to do with the difficult terrain and geography than any administrative failure.

Usually, after a bird flue case is reported and confirmed at a particular place, an area of ten kilometres diameter taking the reported place of occurrence as a centre is quarantined and put under surveillance and all the birds in the said catchment area is supposed to be culled as a preventive measure even though the target bird population may not be infected at all.

Even though very handsome compensation is being offered for the birds to be culled or for the eggs to be destroyed, there are many who are resisting the culling operations at many places on the plea that their birds are not infected and government should first prove that they are infected before going ahead with the culling exercise. Many of the poultry farm owners or backyard poultry owners are concerned and distraught at the prospective loss of livelihood for them as a result of the bird flue. The administration, however, has so far succeeded with the culling operations in the teeth of all these hurdles including the resistance from the people.

Not only this, bird flue also has implications for the economy as a whole as it sends negative signals to the outside world about the poor hygiene and sanitation standards obtaining here, with negative portents for our food processing industry. The same could not only take away the livelihood of millions of people in this country, but can also hurt our larger economy in one way or the other.

Notwithstanding the rapid spread of the disease, one can still say that performance of the government and administration has been reasonably satisfactory as still the disease is confined within certain sporadic pockets, even though these pockets are scattered all over the state.

But the epidemic has definitely left certain lessons for us all. There is definitely a stronger case for prior preparations, building better surveillance infrastructure including testing laboratories, easy availability of more sophisticated equipment and bird flue kits, better training and capacity building to tackle such a pestilence. In this instant case, training on the different nuances of tackling the bird flue for the RRTs has been organised instantly after the disease has been reported.

Effective border sealing and checking the inter-regional movement of birds from inside and outside the infected zone need to be ensured for better control of the contagion. Last but not the least, the media management has to be more effective as it things have often been blown out of proportion. The very fact that reports of bird flue outbreak has resulted in people completely stopping buying and consuming poultry products has also affected the poultry industry despite the fact that well boiled and cooked poultry, even though infected, does not carry any threat for the consumers.

The reaction abroad to the news of bird flue outbreak in West Bengal has, however, been overboard and completely unwarranted. If media reports are to be believed, many countries have prohibited poultry imports from as far flung states as Tamil Nadu and Andhra Pradesh, the states which, by no stretch of imagination, are affected by this spectre. One should realise that India is not a small country, but is a sub-continental entity and as such, bird flue outbreak in one state is not likely to affect the other states. Though precaution is in order, the same should not verge on unwarranted overreaction.

One just hopes that government shall be able to bring the pestilence under control very soon. The government has to ensure that the aftermath of the outbreak is well tackled so that the poultry industry comes back to the normal. Media again has an important role to play here. Also, better standards of hygiene and sanitation have to be ensured through better training and awareness among the operators and personnel engaged in the poultry business to prevent any future outbreak of the disease, including its spread to other states.
*Saumitra Mohan is an IAS officer presently working as an Additional District Magistrate, Hooghly in West Bengal.
(The views expressed here are author’s personal views and do not reflect those of the Government.)
Address for correspondence:
Saumitra Mohan, IAS, Additional District Magistrate, Office of the District Magistrate, Hooghly-712101.
E-mail: saumitra_mohan@hotmail.com.
Phone: 033-26806456/26802043(O)/26802041(R).
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