Avian flu reported in Bangalore, poultry culled

01 November, 2012

The occurrence of the dreadful H5N1 Avian influenza has been confirmed on October 29 29, at Central Poultry Development Organization (CPDOTI) at Hesaraghatta, near Bangalore.

MANY OF the infected chickens, emus and ducks have been removed at the state-run poultry farm that contained the deadly avian flu. Around 19,235 chickens, 370 emus and 13,673 ducks were culled to prevent the H5N1 influenza affecting other birds in the vicinity, says Arvind Jannu, the Principal Secretary Animal Husbandry, reported The Hindu.

Avian flu or Bird flu is a kind of infectious viral disease that usually affects wild birds but sometimes also affects poultry birds. Only one strain of Bird flu called the H5N1 strain affects humans. Till now, no case of bird flu in humans have been detected in India. This is not a contagious disease as swine flu, and does not spread from one person to another, it only spreads from an infected bird to human.

The bird flu can affect an individual if the individual is in close contact with the infected poultry. Usually, the people working in poultry are particularly vulnerable to this infection. The Avian flu can spread from infected birds skin, blood and excreta. It can also spread by eating the meat of an uncooked or under-cooked infected bird. But if the infected bird is thoroughly cooked then the virus cannot affect the human.

The typical symptoms of Avian flu are sore throat, cough, fever and muscle aches. Other severe symptoms of Avian flu are diarrhea, nausea, vomiting, pneumonia, eye infection and respiratory failure. But one of the characteristic symptom of avian flu, which is seen in many patients is lower respiratory tract infection. The vaccine for H5N1 is not available publicly, but the most commonly used medication for the Bird flu treatment in humans is Oseltamivir (Tamiflu), it is an anti-viral drug that prevents the spread of flu.

The precautions that can be taken for Bird flu are properly washing the eggs and meat of the poultry, cooking the meat or egg properly, so that the virus present in it will not survive and properly washing the hand before handling and after handling the meat. Maintaining the basic hygienic level is enough to keep the virus away, reported the website health.india.