Indian poultry imports banned

 Lakmini Rodrigo

COLOMBO: The import of poultry products and bird food from India has been banned from Sunday following reports of an avian flu virus threat in India, the Health and Nutrition Ministry said.

A Ministry spokesman said Sri Lankans have been "unnecessarily frightened" after reports about the virus in India. All measures have been taken to prevent the entry of the virus into the country, the spokesman said.

Laboratory officers are being trained in Hong Kong in the use of new surveillance technology. They will return to Sri Lanka by the end of February and train officers of all hospitals to combat the virus, he added.

The virus threat to the country has increased slightly in the North and East where awareness and combat programmes are comparatively weak, Animal Production and Health Director General Dr. S.K.R. Amarasekara said.

The H5N1 virus that attacks the respiratory system is capable of surviving out of a living body under normal environmental conditions for 15 to 30 days, but could easily be destroyed by high temperature and sunlight, he explained.

Dr. Amarasekara said the public and poultry owners should be alert of birds dying due to unusual or mysterious causes and immediately report to a veterinary office. A meeting was held yesterday with poultry breeders and seed mixers to enlighten them on the action to be taken if birds were suspected to be found victims of the virus.

Dr. Amarasekara supported a ministry official's statement underlining that the import of poultry products from India and other virus infected countries be banned. He said more resources were required to carry out awareness and surveillance programmes to diagnose and fight the disease.

He said people entering the country through the Bandaranaike International Airport who had visited poultry farms of affected countries within seven days, were requested to report to the airport's Animal Quarantine Desk.