Bhopal lab develops avian flu vaccine

Bhopal, July 10 (UNI) Bhopal-based High Security Animal Disease Laboratory has developed vaccine for avian flu, official sources said today.

The vaccine was developed for the first time in India as a result of strenuous efforts made in the last three months following the outbreak of avian influenza in certain pockets of western Madhya Pradesh, Gujarat and Maharashtra early this year.

''Field trials had given positive results so far and the formal announcement about the record achievement would be made in a week,'' the sources said today.

The Agriculture Ministry had provided Rs 8 crore in March this year for developing the vaccine and a special team of scientists, led by Laboratory Joint Director H K Pradhan, was engaged in developing it, the sources said.

Several lakh poultry had been culled in the flu-affected states following the outbreak of the disease in February this year. Poultry business was yet to recover from the fall in sales since.

The Laboratory, which had already developed a unique technique for identifying the influenza virus in poultry, had tested several hundred poultry samples, including droppings of migratory birds, after avian flu (H5N1) hit the country and the samples from Nandurbar in Maharastra had tested positive initially, followed by samples from Ichhapur in Burhanpur, MP and a neighbouring village in Gujarat.

UNI SKV-SP RL KN1615