The Ministry of Animal Husbandry has set up control rooms after confirmation of the avian influenza outbreaks in Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh, Kerala and the Himalayas.

 

♦ The control room will pay careful attention to the situation and review, on a regular basis, the preventive and control measures adopted by the state governments. Even, the control room will comply with the National Action Plan for Avian Flu.

♦ The following components comprise the National Action Plan on Avian Influenza:

♦ Advising states and federal territories to avoid outbreaks of bird flu.

♦ The second section of the action plan sets out the steps that should be taken if an outbreak of avian influenza is suspected.

♦ The third part describes the actions during the outbreak.

♦ The fourth part decides the management of individuals that have infected poultry with bird flu. The individual will provide advice on biosafety and biosafety steps.

♦ Viruses of influenza are classified into types A, B and C. Influenza A viruses are known to only infect animals and to be zoonotic. This suggests that it can also infect humans with type A. 

♦ The avian influenza subtypes are H5N1, H7N9 and H9N2. The subtypes are categorised according to surface proteins called hemagglutinin and neouracilase.

♦ This is the global scheme of influenza surveillance and response that was introduced in 1952 by the World Health Organization. It tracks seasonal global patterns and possible influenza pandemics. It is the backbone of the global system of flu warnings.

♦ The World Health Organization has launched a Global Influenza Plan for 2019-2030. It aims at preventing seasonal influenza and managing the transmission of viruses to humans from animals.