INDIA HAS now developed a vaccine to combat the deadly H5N1 bird flu virus.
Union Agriculture Minister Sharad Pawar made this announcement on Sunday at the annual general body meeting of Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR) society.
The vaccine was developed by ICAR's Animal Disease Laboratory in Bhopal.
The biggest beneficiary, of course, would be Pawar's home state Maharashtra, which had to cull thousands of chickens after the outbreak of avian flu about four months ago. The vaccine will be injected into birds to save them from infection, he said. The new vaccine is a homologous one derived from the H5N1 strain.
Before developing the vaccine, India was importing them.
The new vaccine will go a long way in fighting bird flu, said Dr Mangala Rai, Director General of ICAR. "Viral diseases such as avian influenza do not recognize boundaries, and the development of an indigenous vaccine would go a long way in tackling bird flu effectively," he said.
Bird flu has killed at least 132 people worldwide since it started ravaging Asian poultry stocks in late 2003, according to the World Health Organisation.
Pawar also announced a number of development schemes for the farm sector, including the National Agricultural Innovation Project (NAIP), which is to be launched this month with World Bank assistance.
The Rs 1150 crore project would help increase the income of farmers. "The project envisages targeting the rural poor and the disadvantaged groups like women," Pawar said.
