Strategies in the offing to shelter zoos from swine flu

With swine flu hitting the country, the Institute of Veterinary Research Institute, a nodal agency for Central Zoo Authority, is preparing guidelines to shield zoos against the virus.
Devendra Swaroop, Principal Scientist, head of Division of Medicine at the Institute told a news agency that the guidelines enlisting hygiene measures, vaccinations and preventive steps to be taken in the zoos are
likely to be finalised by the end of June.
“At present, we have no guidelines as such regarding swine flu. But as the virus has triggered in the country, there is an urgent need to sanitise our zoos as well. The guidelines will help us in taking preventive steps to check the spread of the virus in the zoos,” said B R Sharma member-secretary, Central Zoo Authority (CZA).
Precaution is required in cases of pigs or boars which are said to be the carriers of the virus, Sharma said.
The official, however, said there was no need to panic as far as the zoo inmates were concerned but “we do have wild boars in some of our zoos. We have a number of visitors in the zoo and they too can be the carrier of the disease.”
There have been reports of Iraqi authorities killing three wild boars in Baghdad Zoo because of swine flu fears while Afghanistan has kept the country’s only pig in isolation away from visitors to Kabul Zoo.
However, scientists are not completely sure whether the current strain of Type A influenza, now called “H1N1?, began in pigs and are trying to find out its origins.
Eleven cases of swine flu have already been reported from across the country so far.
CZA is an autonomous body of the Environment Ministry mandated to ensure norms and regulations in the zoos in the country. There are around 180 big and small zoological gardens in India.

http://www.freshnews.in/strategies-in-the-offing-to-shelter-zoos-from-swine-flu-148182