The Maharashtra Government said that the death of 1000 chicken on its border with Gujarat is due the Ranikhet or Newcastle disease and not due to the dreaded H5N1 avian flu virus. To ensure that it is not due to avian flu, they have sent samples to a Bhopal laboratory for testing. India has two major testing facilities at the Indian Council for Medical Research (ICMR) and National Institute of Contagious Disease (NICD). However, these two labs will be used for human testing mechanism. Not much is known of monitoring mechanisms although the Ministry of Health claims to be in close contact and discussions with its peers in other SAARC and ASEAN nations. India also has poor reporting and control mechanisms and it is not known how the Government plans to proactively stop, control, and manage the epidemic. Most people in India are not even aware of the disease.

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