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To Believe or Not To Believe
The controversy of bird flu having
actually hit Indian poultry has been as much in the air as the flu
virus itself. Some poultry owners say that though many chickens
have died, it is not because of bird flu but due to a disease called
Ranikhet, which is very common among birds. Probably the fear of
incurring huge loss was the reason behind this statement as mass
culling of poultry birds was in progress.
Some pharmaceutical companies were ready with antiviral
flu drugs like oseltamivir
or Tamiflu to combat with this pandemic
even before the first case of bird flu was reported. The question
that arises in the mind is---had they already anticipated an outbreak
of avian flu? Well, time tested research has revealed that every
year migrating birds like wild ducks bring this deadly H5N1
virus that causes avian influenza. They shed this virus through
their droppings in the environment. Beasts who feed upon these infected
birds are also prone to pick up this virus. Until recently, it was
stated to be harmless to humans. But this year, the news is different.
A few cases of illness and death among humans due to this pandemic
have been reported in Maharashtra and neighbouring states.
Within hours, eggs and chicken dishes vanished
from the menus in houses, parties, hotels and restaurants. The poultry
business went down drastically overnight. The government swung into
action, though a little late, and thousands of poultry birds were
culled. The poultry industry incurred a loss of Rupees18-20 crores
in Maharashtra alone.
In between this pandemonium, of panic and precaution,
a controversy arose whether bird flu had actually hit the Indian
poultry, and more so, was it contagious to humans. While some experts
claim that this hype about avian
influenza was only a hocus pocus—a sort of “CRY
WOLF”, and their was no reason to panic, others swear that
the symptoms like diarrhoea, fever, breathlessness, etc. pointed
towards the presence of the H5N1 virus.
However, what one needs to consider at this juncture
is not whether the news of bird flu is actually true or not, but
the fact that it is a well-known annual, seasonal phenomenon that
occurs every year with the onset of the migratory birds. Then why
should we not equip ourselves against this disease in advance and
fight it out? Why do we wait for misfortune to strike and then ponder
over its probability? With advance research at our fingertips, it
is advisable to use it to our advantage and play safe rather than
get into a useless controversy like “TO BELIEVE OR NOT TO
BELIEVE”. After all, we are not so bird brained to let sick
birds decide our future!
To Believe or Not To Believe (PDF, 54k)
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