Bird Flu an act of bioterrorism?

With the bird flu virus rearing its ugly head in India for the first time, it brings with it numerous theories about how it happened. The poultry industry is saying its a conspiracy of the multi-national corporations, while others say its to create panic and hysteria in the country. People say it was brought in by foreign carriers deliberately. Could this be a case of bioterrorism? I dont know what to think yet.

Well, it could be anything, and I do hope the government does not hide anything but conduct a full fledged investigation into the outbreak, if at all it becomes one, and plan to prevent it in the future.
But I do have one lingering afterthought in my mind. I think the government was way too hasty in culling more than a million chickens in Maharashtra and Gujarat. I am not sure how many tests were done, or how many solutions were looked into. Ideally, the government should have sent some of the samples to other, independent labs as well, and from what i read, they didnt do that.

Was the virus deliberately introduced?

The government's announcement of bird flu deaths in Maharashtra has created an unnecessary panic and how the virus arrived in a remote place like Nandurbar needs "detailed investigations," including the possibility of deliberate introduction, according to a leading virologist.

Meanwhile health ministry officials investigating the episode told PTI that Newcastle virus - that causes similar symptoms like bird flu - has also been isolated from the dead birds lending credence to the poultry industry claims that the deaths were not entirely due to bird flu.

"I am worried and surprised about the whole thing," says Kalyan Banerjee, former Director of the National Institute of Virology (NIV) in Pune who is also a member of the government committee advising about bioterrorism. Transmission of flu from birds to humans is very difficult and the fears have been over blown, Banerjee told PTI in a telephone interview.

________________________________________________

MNC 'nexus' behind bird flu

Amid a national alert on suspected incidence of avian flu in India, poultry industry today claimed there was no scientific evidence of bird flu and charged multinational corporations with entering into a “nexus” to cash in on the panic situation.

Country’s leading player, Venkateswara Hatchery and National Egg Coordination Committee (NECC) have rubbished claims of avian flu but said it could be Ranikhet disease that was affecting poultry chicken, a common phenomena during this time of the year.

“It is not bird flu. We have the best labs. Not one case of bird flu has been detected,” NECC chairman Anuradha Desai said reacting to the panic spread across the nation.

On orders given to cull thousands of poultry chicken in some areas of Maharashtra, Desai said “I urge, don’t destroy the poultry. Submit at least one sample and test it.”

Desai suspected a nexus of MNC drug manufacturers who want to sell their products by spreading the rumour of avian flu. “If you put the vaccine now, it will show positive results of bird flu,” Desai warned.

Venkateswara Hatcheries CEO, OP Singh, said “I do not believe there is bird flu. We have tested 40 samples and all the results were negative. So, there is no scientific basis to say it is bird flu.”Experts and scientists have not given any conclusive report that says it is avian flu, he said.