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Bird flu: Migratory birds are flying back
As fears of a bird flu outbreak in Sri Lanka heightened with neighbouring India being one of the affected countries, an expert here yesterday gave positive news.

He said the possibility of the disease spreading through migratory birds appeared to be remote as the migratory season had ended. Dr. D. D. Wanasinghe, Chairman of the All Island Poultry Association, said the disease could be spread in Sri Lanka by migratory birds or through the import of chicken or chicken products.

“Sri Lanka has banned the import of chicken from bird-flu-affected countries while migratory birds are flying back,” he said. Dr Wanasinghe said the authorities had taken all steps necessary to prevent bird flu after the Indian case, a view shared by Dr. S.K.R. Amarasekera, Director-General of the Department of Animal Production and Health.

The top health official said though there was no bird flu in Sri Lanka, they were concerned about the situation in India and monitoring it carefully. “If India manages to contain the bird flu at the source, we are safe. But, if it spreads to the south, we have to be alert," Dr Amarasekera said pointing out that we have close links, including trade relationships with India.

Stressing that he was careful when issuing permits for the import of any livestock, he said that it would be impossible to prevent birds coming on boats or people bringing in chicken and other stuff to Mannar from India.
Referring to how Sri Lanka should prepare to face bird flu risks, he said people should to be made aware about the disease and how it spread while preventive measures at entry ports should be intensified. He also said his department should be given the necessary resources and equipment to carry out tests on domestic birds for the virus.

"We are still operating with the normal budget and usual resources, even in the face of this bird flu threat," he lamented. "We have test kits but they are inadequate. I feel what we are doing maybe inadequate."

Listing the steps taken by his department to ward off the bird flu, Dr. Amerasekera said recently the import of parent chicks from India had been halted as soon as the virus was reported from that country. Meanwhile the poultry industry continued to suffer the impact of the bird flu threat with the chicken and egg prices dropping and the sales of the products sliding down.

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