Pune's bird flu lab to be functional in a month
Pune, Jan 31. (PTI): The Bird flu Serum Testing Laboratory (BSTL), whose need was felt by Maharashtra after the outbreak of avian influenza at Navapur last year, will become functional here in a month's time.
The BSTL will function from the campus of the Disease Investigation Section (DIS), Joint Commissioner (Animal Husbandry) V M Bhuktar told PTI here on Tuesday.
Samples for testing of bird flu from different regions of Maharashtra are currently sent to Bhopal's High Security Animal Disease Laboratory. From next year, the testing of these samples will be done at BSTL, he said.
As Maharashtra was "an affected state", testing would not be immediately done at the laboratory in Pune, Bhuktar said.
The testing of samples from Uttaranchal, Chhattisgarh, Uttar Pradesh, Goa and the Union Territory of Diu and Daman will commence at the BSTL after it becomes functional, he said.
The animal husbandry department is keeping a vigil on migratory birds, so that they do not bring the H5N virus which causes avian influenza to India.
From October, migratory birds like bar-headed goose, flamingos, seagulls, little grebe, storks and shell ducks start arriving in different parts of India, mainly from China, Japan and Russia through the "flyways" of northern, central and southern India. The birds begin to return in February and March, Animal Husbandry Commissioner Bijay Kumar said.
Kumar said, as many as 10 lakh birds were culled within a 10-km radius of Navapur following the outbreak of bird flu there in February-March last year. This year, Maharashtra is better prepared to tackle the outbreak of any disease among the State's commercial and backyard poultry units that have over three crore birds.
"Exhaustive surveillance has become an ongoing practice since June last year, in which 8,000 staff of Maharashtra's 4,000 veterinary hospitals and dispensaries are involved," he said.
"As per the plan, the sample size was decided and each block of a tehsil was taken as a unit. So far, nearly 9,000 samples have been tested for bird flu and all of them have tested negative. But we are not going to drop our guard and a relentless vigil will be maintained," Kumar said.
At a recent meeting with Maharashtra's senior officials from the animal husbandry department, Bernard Vallat, the director general of the Office of the International Epizootics, who was on a visit to the State, praised measures being taken to check the outbreak of diseases among animals and birds, Bhutkar said.
Pune, Jan 31. (PTI): The Bird flu Serum Testing Laboratory (BSTL), whose need was felt by Maharashtra after the outbreak of avian influenza at Navapur last year, will become functional here in a month's time.
The BSTL will function from the campus of the Disease Investigation Section (DIS), Joint Commissioner (Animal Husbandry) V M Bhuktar told PTI here on Tuesday.
Samples for testing of bird flu from different regions of Maharashtra are currently sent to Bhopal's High Security Animal Disease Laboratory. From next year, the testing of these samples will be done at BSTL, he said.
As Maharashtra was "an affected state", testing would not be immediately done at the laboratory in Pune, Bhuktar said.
The testing of samples from Uttaranchal, Chhattisgarh, Uttar Pradesh, Goa and the Union Territory of Diu and Daman will commence at the BSTL after it becomes functional, he said.
The animal husbandry department is keeping a vigil on migratory birds, so that they do not bring the H5N virus which causes avian influenza to India.
From October, migratory birds like bar-headed goose, flamingos, seagulls, little grebe, storks and shell ducks start arriving in different parts of India, mainly from China, Japan and Russia through the "flyways" of northern, central and southern India. The birds begin to return in February and March, Animal Husbandry Commissioner Bijay Kumar said.
Kumar said, as many as 10 lakh birds were culled within a 10-km radius of Navapur following the outbreak of bird flu there in February-March last year. This year, Maharashtra is better prepared to tackle the outbreak of any disease among the State's commercial and backyard poultry units that have over three crore birds.
"Exhaustive surveillance has become an ongoing practice since June last year, in which 8,000 staff of Maharashtra's 4,000 veterinary hospitals and dispensaries are involved," he said.
"As per the plan, the sample size was decided and each block of a tehsil was taken as a unit. So far, nearly 9,000 samples have been tested for bird flu and all of them have tested negative. But we are not going to drop our guard and a relentless vigil will be maintained," Kumar said.
At a recent meeting with Maharashtra's senior officials from the animal husbandry department, Bernard Vallat, the director general of the Office of the International Epizootics, who was on a visit to the State, praised measures being taken to check the outbreak of diseases among animals and birds, Bhutkar said.