10m Doses of Avian Flu Vaccines Imported

EghtesadOnline: Iran Veterinary Organization imported 10 million doses of avian flu vaccines during the last three weeks, IRNA quoted Karim Ghanei, the authority in charge of IVO’s Taskforce to Fight Aviation Flu as saying on Thursday.

News ID: ۷۸۳۱۸۴

07 July 2018

Ghanei added that plans are underway to import another 10 million doses for the second phase of campaign against the deadly virus as well as 100 million doses for the subsequent phases.

“The avian flu virus activity is usually reduced during the first six months of the year but it strikes with added power during the second half,” Financial Tribune quoted him as saying.

In the last fiscal (March 2017-18) in the Iranian calendar month starting July 23, it was presumed that the virus was subdued but in later months severe losses were reported.

More than 27 million chickens were culled as a result of the  outbreak of H5N8 strain of avian flu in Iran in late 2017, inflicting more than half a billion dollars in losses.

Iranian poultry farms are hit by avian flu every year. The H5N8 strain infecting Iranian farms is deadly for poultry, but according to the World Health Organization, although human infection with the virus cannot be rejected, the likelihood is low.

There have been reports of other strains of the virus in Iran in recent years.