In a bid to take preventive steps against possible spread of swine flu virus among the country?s 15 million pig population, the animal science department of Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR) has called a high-level meeting to chalk out strategy to deal with it.
The meeting slated for Thursday, will be attended by experts from the field of animal husbandry and other related disciplines for formulating strategy for keeping the flu away from the country. The meeting is being held for equipping the states against possible outbreak of flu in their respective regions.
?Although there is no cause of panic yet, yet we need to be ready with our contingency plan for dealing with possible spread among the pig population,? KM Bujarbaruah, Deputy Director General, Animal Science, ICAR told FE.
He said as most of the pig population in the country is in the unorganized sector, the government needs to be very ?cautious? in taking preventive measure.
However, Bujarbaruah said there is no ?cause of alarm? right now as the virus is spreading through human contact rather than through any animals.
Pig breeding is done mostly by people belonging to the low social economic strata in the country, which makes preventive measures quite difficult to carry out. The pig or pork exports from the country are also quite small.
According to reports, the Assam government has issued a directive to pig breeders in the state to maintain a close watch on their farm animals in the wake of outbreak of swine flu.
Assam veterinary directorate has issued a directive to managers of its base pig breeding farms to closely monitor the health of animals under their care.
The department has asked its breeders to monitor symptoms like conjunctivitis, coughing, high morbidity and severe bronchopneumonia before death.
Meanwhile, the swine flu epidemic crossed new borders on Tuesday with the first confirmed cases being reported from Middle East and the Asia-Pacific region. The number of deaths in Mexico , considered to the epicenter of the virus crossed 150. The World Health Organisation has raised its flu pandemic alert level from three to four, signaling a ?significant increase in risk of a pandemic.?
In India, pig breeding and development is mostly confined in the North-Eastern region of the country. The department of animal husbandry was implementing a central funded ?Assistance to States for Integrated Piggery Development? since 1991-92.
Though it was discontinued after the 9th plan, it was revived since 2005-06 as a component of the new macro scheme titled ?National Project for Improvement of Poultry and Small Animals?.