Bird flu is rearing its head again and India is among the countries that need to take precautions, the UN Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) said.
The UNFAO has warned that countries where H5N1 is still firmly entrenched ? Bangladesh, China, Egypt, India, Indonesia and Vietnam ? are likely to face the biggest problems. This time they have warned that a mutant strain of the deadly bird flu virus is spreading in Asia and beyond, with unpredictable risks to human health.
Though no outbreaks have been seen in India from December 2010 but Bangladesh has seen an outbreak between June 22 and July 21 and the FAO has indicated faster spread through migratory birds.
The FAO alert had urged heightened readiness and surveillance against a possible major resurgence of the H5N1 Highly Pathogenic Avian Influenza amid signs that a mutant strain of the deadly Bird Flu virus is spreading in Asia and beyond, with unpredictable risks to human health. FAO chief veterinary officer Juan Lubroth has said this was no time for complacency and no one can let their guard down with H5N1.
Lubroth said migrations help the virus travel over long distances, so that H5N1 has in the past 24 months shown up in poultry or wild birds in countries that had been virus-free for several years. A further cause for concern, Lubroth said, is the appearance in China and Vietnam of a variant virus apparently able to sidestep the defences provided by existing vaccines.