Why Environmental Surveillance for Avian Influenza is vital?

GS Paper 2

Syllabus: Issues related to Health

Source: TH

Context: Avian influenza (H5N1) or bird flu has caused unprecedented loss of tens of thousands of birds at Bass Rock, an island off the coast of North Berwick, Scotland.

Avian Influenza in India: The latest major avian flu outbreak in 2020-2021 swept through many States causing mass mortality of wild birds.

Challenges for India:

• India is a major wintering ground for many waterfowl that rely on the central Asian Flyway.
• Fastest growing egg producer in the world.
• Unlike in Europe, poultry birds here are not vaccinated against the flu.
• Farms with a diversity of animals or in the vicinity of wetlands increase the potential for the viruses to generate more virulent strains – H5N1/H7N9 – which could infect humans.
• There is no active surveillance in the poultry sector.
• There is no efficient mechanism for how wetland and waterfowl habitats at the interface of poultry need to be monitored.

Environmental surveillance – Meaning and need:

 Meaning: It can improve knowledge of the presence and diversity of avian influenza viruses in domestic flocks that are allowed to roam/in confinement where waste products like faeces, etc. are released into the environment.

 Need:

• Birds infected with the virus shed large quantities of virus in their faeces, saliva, and nasal secretions for about a week.
• Zoonotic potential:
  • Transmission from dead birds to scavenging animals such as sea lions, and foxes, has posed serious risks.
  • Recently, the intra-mammal transmission of H5N1 (in mink farms) was recorded.
• Lakes and wetlands can act as environmental reservoirs for several months.

Way ahead: An active and passive year-round surveillance network under One Health which connects monitoring of humans and animals in a shared environment.

Conclusion: Currently, virus surveillance relies on sampling dead birds. Therefore, environmental surveillance would be a great non-invasive tool that can be done without disturbing the birds and can be used to obtain both host and viral genetic material.

Insta Links:

Bird flu

Mains Links:

Can overuse and the availability of antibiotics without a doctor’s prescription, contribute to the emergence of drug-resistant diseases in India? What are the available mechanisms for monitoring and control? Critically discuss the various issues involved. (UPSC 2014)

Prelims Links: (UPSC 2015)