Bird flu vaccine 90 per cent effective

Bhopal, July 17 (UNI) High Security Animal Disease Laboratory (HSADL) Joint Director H K Pradhan has claimed that the vaccine developed for bird flu was 90 per cent effective and its effect on the fowl remained for nearly six months.

The testing of the vaccine was carried out on eight groups each comprising of 8-10 chickens.

Mr Pradhan said the laboratory had made the vaccine available to the Centre.

Mr Pradhan told UNI here today that bird flu had been detected at Navapur in Maharashtra on February 18, Surat in Gujarat on February 24, Jalgaon in Maharashtra on March 13 and Burhanpur in Madhya Pradesh on March 28.

The Indian Council for Agricultural Research (ICAR) directed the laboratory to start work on developing a vaccine. The Centre provided a sum of eight crore to the institute in March for the purpose.

A team led by Dr Pradhan and comprising HSADL scientists Dr Sandeep Bhatia, Dr B Patnaik and Dr Maitri Sharma developed the vaccine.

Large scale culling was carried out in adjoining areas after bird flu was detected in Navapur, Surat, Jalgaon and Burhanpur causing severe loss to poultry business, which is still struggling to come out of it.

UNI SKV-PS SI VA BST1349