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Avian flu causing migratory birds’ death
Why is it in News?
- ICAR-National Institute of High Security Animal Disease has confirmed H5N1 virus as the cause for death of migratory birds at the Pong Dam wetland in Himachal Pradesh.
Details:
- More than, 2,400 birds of different species have been found dead at Pong Lake over the past week.
- As a precautionary measure, sale of poultry products and fish has been also banned in Fatehpur, Dehra, Jawali and Indora subdivisions.
- Most of the fatalities are being seen among bar-headed geese.
- Bar-headed geese:
(1) The world’s highest-flying birds.
(2) They migrate from far-off Siberia and Mongolia.
- H5N1:
(1) It is a highly contagious viral disease caused by Influenza Type A viruses.
(2) Wild aquatic birds such as ducks and geese are the natural reservoir of Influenza A viruses and the central players in the ecology of these viruses.
(3) In 1997 when humans are first known to have contracted bird flu H5N1.
(4) Till date, several other strains of the virus such as H5N2 and H5N8 jumped from animals to humans.
(5) H5N1 is severe and deadly – around 6 out of 10 confirmed cases in humans have led to deaths.
(6) The avian influenza attacks the respiratory tract of humans and may cause severe respiratory illnesses.
- Antiviral drugs, especially oseltamivir, improve the prospects of survival in humans.
Source: Hindustan Times