BENGALURU: The death of 31 blackbucks at the Kittur Rani Chennamma Mini-zoo (KRCM) in Belagavi may have been prevented if the authorities concerned had paid heed to the first alert of a possible breakout of Hemorrhagic Septicemia (HS), said to be issued in September this year.
TNIE has reliably learnt that in September, the National Animal Disease Referral Expert System (NADRES), developed by ICAR-National Institute of Veterinary Epidemiology & Disease Informatics (NIVEDI), Bengaluru, had reportedly predicted a possible outbreak of HS — a bacterial infection among livestock and wildlife — in Belagavi district based on several parameters including climate variables.
“NADRES-NIVEDI had issued a ‘Vet Alert’ to the State Animal Husbandry Department and all other stakeholders, including farmers and veterinarians, in September and repeated the advisory again this month,” highly-placed sources on condition of anonymity told TNIE. “HS could have been managed without fatalities if timely and appropriate precautions were taken. All forms of communication channels; from hard copies and soft copies to SMS are used to send early warning/advisories to all the stakeholders,” said sources.
‘Climate change, lack of hygiene behind infection’
“The reasons for the spread of HS, which is a bacterial infection, include stress due to climate change (weather fluctuations, sudden dip in temperature), lack of good, clean shelters, hygiene etc. Animals develop respiratory distress due to weather fluctuations leading to HS. There are vaccines for the bacterial infection. An animal with HS should be isolated from the rest to prevent its spread,” said sources. HS, however, is not a zoonotic disease.
The NADRES advisory included several preventive measures, including “disease surveillance, enforcing strict biosecurity protocols, controlled access, equipment disinfection and quarantine for newly introduced animals, vaccinating animals in endemic zones to prevent outbreaks, ensuring age-appropriate and serotype-specific vaccinations; conducting ring vaccination campaigns within a 5km radius in affected areas using suitable vaccines for specific diseases; administering primary vaccinations at the recommended age, followed by booster doses annually or as advised.”
NADRES-NIVEDI was developed in 2015 to forecast potential threats (to livestock and wildlife) from pathogens two months in advance to provide the stakeholders a sufficient time line for awareness and preparedness to act.
“Disease surveillance has a significant contribution towards animal health and helps in taking precautionary measures during disease epidemics. NADRES is a weather-based forewarning system enabled with artificial intelligence (AIML) system developed by ICAR- NIVEDI that forecasts potential threats from pathogens two months in advance with 95 percent accuracy to provide the stakeholders sufficient time line for awareness and preparedness to act,” said sources.