Around 1,800 migratory birds, most of them bar-headed geese, have been found dead at Pong Dam Lake in Himachal Pradesh’s Kangra district . These birds were tested positive for bird flu.
- After Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh and Kerala, Himachal Pradesh is the fourth State to report cases of the avian influenza in recent days.
Bird flu outbreak
- Bird Flu is a highly contagious viral disease caused by Influenza Type A viruses which generally affects poultry birds such as chickens and turkeys.
- Humans are first known to have contracted bird flu following an outbreak in a live bird market of Hong Kong in 1997. It was the H5N1 strain of the virus, and 6 out of 18 infected humans died of the disease.
- Later, several other strains of the virus such as H5N2 and H5N8 jumped from animals to humans, thus becoming a global public health concern.
- However, it doesn’t spread easily to humans. Generally, people coming in close contact with infected alive or dead birds have contracted the H5N1 bird flu, and it does not usually spread from person to person, as per the WHO.
- All known subtypes of Influenza A viruses can infect birds, except subtypes H17N10 and H18N11 which have only been found in bats.
- According to the Union Health Ministry, no case of bird flu in humans has been detected so far in India.
- The first outbreak occurred in India in Maharashtra and Gujarat in 2006. The department of animal husbandry has reported that from 2006, 25 episodes of H5N1 bird flu in poultry in 15 states till 2015.
Bar-headed geese
- Bar-headed geese are the world’s highest-flying birds that migrate from far-off Siberia and Mongolia.
About Pong Dam wetland
- Pong dam is a reservoir constructed on the river Beas in the wet land of Shivalik hills of Kangra district of Himachal Pradesh.
- It has been named as Maharana Pratap Sagar.
- It is also known as Pong reservoir or Pong Dam.
- This dam was built in 1975 named in honor of Maharana Pratap.
- This reservoir or lake is a famous wildlife sanctuary and one of the 42 Ramsar wetland sites in India.
