Bird flu in India?
SM Abdur Rahman
When Thailand reported its first human death caused by avian influenza (in January 2004), the government took a bold step to protect our poultry industry from the spread of the virus. Imports of parent stock chicks (chicks from which local hatcheries breed broiler and layer chicks) were banned from several Asian countries. Most of the banned countries (Pakistan, Vietnam, Thailand, South Korea, Japan, and Taiwan) had already reported or have since reported avian influenza outbreaks. Two of the banned countries (India and Malaysia) have not reported outbreaks; they were banned because they were rumoured to have outbreaks. The ban was successful; there has not yet been any outbreak of avian influenza in Bangladesh. However, many small hatcheries have been pressuring the Ministry of Livestock to relax the ban to allow imports of parent stock chicks from India. Their argument is that the ban on importing parent stock chicks from India forces them to import more expensive parent stock chicks from Europe. These hatcheries feel that we should trust the Indian government's claim that India is free from avian influenza. On the other side of the argument are Paragon and Kazi Farms. These large hatcheries have imported grand-parent stock chicks from Europe and are now producing parent stock chicks locally. They have argued that the ban should continue because India is experiencing outbreaks of low pathogenic avian influenza (LPAI) which the Indian government is covering up to support Indian poultry exports. According to this argument, allowing imports from India would risk importing avian influenza, which would destroy our local poultry industry. Until now, neither side has been able to offer any proof as to whether or not avian influenza actually existed in India. However, a team of scientists working at Advance Laboratories with Dr. M.M. Khan (one of the best known poultry experts in Bangladesh) has conducted several trials on Indian poultry vaccines. These trials prove conclusively that avian influenza type H9 does exist in India. Dr. Khan heard from his contacts in the Indian industry that avian influenza was widespread and that farmers were vaccinating their chickens to protect their investment. However, as the Indian poultry industry wanted to cover up the avian influenza outbreak, the avian influenza vaccines were combined with Newcastle (Ranikhet) disease vaccine and labelled simply as vaccines for Newcastle (Ranikhet) disease. Dr. Khan managed to procure a few vials of Indian vaccines labeled as "Newcastle Disease Vaccine Inactivated I.P. Vet." and "Variant Ranikhet Disease Experimental Vaccine". He then conducted scientific trials with these vaccines. In one trial he administered the vaccine to 25 chickens (the trial group). 25 other chickens (the control group) were not vaccinated. Before vaccination, all 50 chickens tested negative for Avian Influenza antibodies. When the chickens were tested again 34 days after vaccination, the entire trial group was positive for avian flu antibodies, while the entire control group was still negative. The trial group also showed increased level of Newcastle (Ranikhet) Disease antibodies after vaccination. These trials were repeated and results were similar. This shows conclusively that the vaccines were in fact a combined vaccine against Avian Influenza and Newcastle (Ranikhet) Disease. Further tests at Dr. Khan's lab indicated that the vaccine produced antibodies for avian influenza type H9. This type of influenza is not as dangerous as the "highly pathogenic" type H5N1 which has killed many people in Hong Kong, Vietnam, Thailand, Cambodia, and recently in Indonesia. Type H9 is "low pathogenic" and has not (at least not as far as we know) killed any humans. However, influenza viruses are known to mutate very quickly; a virus which is "low pathogenic" today may become "highly pathogenic" in a few months, given the right conditions. Dr. Khan concludes that contrary to the claims of the Indian Government, avian influenza (type H9) is present in India. The Indian poultry industry would neither be manufacturing nor using an avian influenza vaccine unless they had already experienced widespread avian influenza outbreaks. He feels that now that we have hard scientific evidence of avian influenza in India, the Ministry of Fisheries & Livestock should continue its ban on imports of poultry and poultry products from India. The Indian government's claim that India is free from avian influenza is not credible. Dr. Khan adds that his research has found plenty of reputable sources which support his conclusions. Dr. H.K Pradhan, Joint Director of the High Security Animal Disease Laboratory (HSADL) of the Indian Veterinary Research Institute (IVRI) in Bhopal, made the following statement in a paper: "So far 3,074 serum and 1,311 tissue samples were examined for avian influenza, of which 313 were positive for antibodies and 25 were positive for the virus. All the samples were positive for H9N2 sybtype only." This paper: "Recent Development in Avian Influenza and its Zoonotic Importance" was presented by Dr. Pradhan at the National Symposium on Influenza (April 5, 2005, at the Vallabhbhai Patel Chest Institute at the University of Delhi). Thus, the HSADL has also found hard evidence of avian influenza in India, and has gone on record as saying so. The Indian Express reported on May 11 that the Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) in Atlanta, USA, confirmed that blood samples from three workers at a poultry farm in India tested positive to avian influenza type H5N1. This was also reported by Asian Poultry in their July 2005 issue. The author is a researcher.
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