New Delhi, Jan 6 (UNI) In wake of fears over Bird Flu or Avian Influenza spreading to humans being, the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare (MH&FW) has deployed multi-disciplinary teams to Avian Influenza affected Alappuzha and Kottayam districts in Kerala, and Panchkula district of Haryana.

The two multi-disciplinary teams comprising of experts from National Centre for Disease Control, National Institute of Virology, PGIMER, Chandigarh, Delhi’s RML Hospital and Lady Hardinge Medical College have been deployed to the affected districts by the Ministry on January 4 to assist the State Health Departments in implementation Ministry of Health & Family Welfare’s Avian Influenza containment plan.

Additionally, a high level team comprising National Centre for Disease Control Director and Joint Secretary & COVID-19 nodal officer, Ministry of Food Processing Industries has been deployed to Kerala on January 6 to oversee the implementation of Avian Influenza containment operations and guide State Health Departments in mounting appropriate public health interventions for the same. In addition, this high level team will also review the COVID-19 situation in the State.

The Department of Animal Husbandry on January 4 this year notified detection of Avian Influenza (H5N8) in samples of dead ducks from Alappuzha and Kottayam districts in Kerala. A similar reports of Avian Influenza has also been received from poultry samples from Panchkula District of Haryana.

Recently, the reports of avian influenza have also been reported from Jhalawar, Rajasthan and Bhind, Madhya Pradesh involving crows and migratory birds.

The Department of Animal Husbandry as per laid down protocol has issued alerts to further intensify surveillance to detect any case in poultry birds.

So far, no human case of Avian Influenza has been reported. Ministry of Health & Family Welfare continues to keep a strict watch over the evolving scenario, the Ministry said.

UNI AKS SHK1855