Why in news
Maharashtra reports case of avian influenza (H5N1) in animals, with three tigers and one leopard dying from the virus.
The Union Animal Husbandry Ministry has urged all states to quarantine infected or symptomatic tigers and other felines to prevent further transmission.
Avian influenza is crossing species barriers, affecting tigers, cattle, goats, and wild species, as seen in other countries like the U.S. and Vietnam.
Avian influenza
Avian influenza A(H5N1) or H5B1 Bird Flu is a highly pathogenic virus that primarily circulates among birds but can infect mammals.
H5N1 originated from a virus outbreak in China in 1996 and rapidly evolved into a highly pathogenic strain.
Since 2020, it has spread across Europe, Africa, Asia, North America, South America, and even mainland Antarctica.
India experienced the first H5N1 outbreak in the State of Maharashtra and Gujarat in 2015.
Basically, it is a subtype of the influenza A virus.
Influenza A viruses are classified by subtypes based on the properties of their surface proteins.
There are 18 different hemagglutinin subtypes and 11 different neuraminidase subtypes (H1 through H18 and N1 through N11, respectively).
For example, A(H1N1) and A(H3N2).
Human cases of H5N1 avian influenza occur occasionally, but it is difficult to transmit the infection from person to person.
Impact on Animals:
Wild birds, including endangered species like California condors, have been severely affected by H5N1.
The main species affected used to be chicken.
Marine mammals, such as sea lions and dolphins, have suffered mass deaths in regions like Chile and Peru.
Mammals like foxes, pumas, bears in North America, and farmed minks in Spain and Finland, have also been infected.
COMMENTS