Tamil Nadu - Nagapattinam   

Project to study role of birds in avian flu

NAGAPATTINAM: A project, to be funded by the Food and Agriculture Organisation, will study the role of migratory birds in the spread of avian influenza, using tracking devices in three bird sanctuaries later this year, K. Balachandran, Indian co-ordinator of the project, has said.

The bird flu scare caused a major culling operation in West Bengal and Tripura earlier this year. While the Highly Pathogenic Avian Influenza (HPAI) H5N1 mainly attacks poultry, the role of migratory birds in spreading the virus has not been ruled out. A global study commissioned by the FAO has found incidence of the HPAI H5N1 in migratory birds in various parts of the world. Though the latest report (up to September 2008) by the FAO suggests that only Indonesia and Egypt are critical, the incidence of avian flu in migratory geese and ducks, especially in the Qinghai Lake in China in 2005, has put India on alert. To prevent a situation similar to the one in West Bengal, the Bombay Natural History Society (BNHS) has been actively monitoring wild bird populations, Dr. Balachandran said.

Using bird-ringing, the BNHS has been trying for a basic study of the behaviour of migratory birds. Speaking to The Hindu, he said: “We collected 397 samples from the Chilka Lake [in Orissa] and studied the symptoms, but the High Security Animal Disease Laboratory (HSADL), Bhopal, ruled out avian flu as a cause of death. Now we will study the birds during the current migratory season, using the FAO project.”

Thirty birds in each of the sanctuaries will be fitted with a Platform Transmitter Terminal (PTT), which will track the birds along their migratory path. Each of the PTTs, costing Rs. 5 lakh, will be tracked every four hours through satellites to locate the birds within a resolution of 100-200 m.

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