India a bird flu free nation
August 14th, 2006
Starting Saturday, India has declared itself a bird flu free country, following a positive report by the High Security Animal Disease Laboratory. The report has been sent to international authorities for world wide acceptance of the status. The country has not detected any case of the flu since April 18 and international organizations ask for a three-month disease free period for a country to be considered free from bird flu. The country is to receive credit for strong preventive and curative measures. The country had a strong initiative towards the disease, applying a massive and instant culling campaign in areas where the virus was found, as well as disinfecting those regions and distributing Tamiflu to farm workers and other people involved in the operations. India has reportedly culled 1 billion birds and destroyed almost 1.5 billion eggs.